New homes sold in the Midwest region of the U.S. in June were at a seasonally-adjusted, annual rate of 71,000 homes, according to a report just released by the U.S. Department of Commerce and United States Census Bureau. June’s new home sales activity in the Midwest represents a 13.4% decline from May when new homes in the Midwest sold at an annual rate of 82,000 homes but is a 7.6% increase from June 2017 when the annual rate was 66,000 homes. Last year the rate of new home sales in this region increased every month after June up until December when it crashed but closed out the year with 72,000 new homes sold.
In terms of the actual number of new homes sold this year in the Midwest region, there have been 44,000 new homes sold this year thus far, through the end of June. Last year, for the same time period, there were just 38,000 new homes sold in this region year to date so we are up 14.4% in non-seasonally adjusted, actual year to date new home sales in the Midwest through the end of June.
According to a recent report published by the Cato Institute, the state of Missouri ranks 9th in the nation for having the most restrictive zoning regulations. Many anti-development folks may applaud this fact and look at it as a victory. However, many people in the real estate industry, including yours truly, believe that overly restrictive zoning regulations greatly impact the cost of new home construction resulting in increased home prices and less affordable housing. Couple the increased costs along with the reduced density permitted by overly restrictive zoning and you have a real impediment to the development of affordable or “work-force” housing.
Zoning regulations first came about in the U.S. early in the 20th century first around 1908 when Los Angeles adopted municipal zoning and land-use laws. In 1916 the city of New York passed a comprehensive zoning code as well. Other municipalities followed suit and, according to the Cato report, 68 additional municipalities had adopted zoning by 1926. In 1926 the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case, Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365 (1926) ruled that “If they are not arbitrary or unreasonable, zoning ordinances are constitutional under the police power of local governments as long as they have some relation to public health, safety, morals, or general welfare“. After the Supreme Court decision, zoning regulations exploded around the country and, just 10 years later, another 1,246 municipalities had adopted zoning.
Today, while much of the zoning, and the people that created it and enforce it, are well intentioned, in many cases it goes well beyond it’s original purpose of “health and human safety”. It is common for zoning and land use regulations to include minimum lot sizes that severly limit the development potential of the land thus driving up the cost of the housing. In addition, it’s common for zoning to include design requirements and features, driven by the personal preferences or ideology of elected and appointed officials with nothing to do with health or human safety, thus further driving up the cost of new housing.
It’s not just zoning and land use regulations however that are keeping new homes from being built at a faster rate in St Louis. There are other regulations that negatively impact new home construction and drive costs up such as the clean water act and similar environmental-related regulations which have caused the costs of lot development to more than double over the past few years.
One of the things that often attract homebuyers to a new or expanding area is the availability of new homes at affordable prices. This is something that is hard to find in older areas that have mature real estate markets due to the lack of available ground and the cost of the ground when it does become available. This is, no doubt, one of the things that have been responsible for the population growth in Wentzville in spite of the fact it is in the farthest west most area of St Charles County. As a result, the city of Wentzville has seen its population grow from 5,733 in 1998 to 39,414 currently, a growth of 587% over the 20 year period.
One topic that often comes up in conversation about new and emerging markets, is whether homebuyers will benefit in those areas, as they mature and grow, from a higher appreciation rate than a typical established market. In order to examine this, I’m going to compare the Wentzville housing market with that of Ballwin, a municipality in St Louis County similar in size to Wentzville, with a current population of 30,161 which is just 15% greater than the 1998 population of 26, 205.
As the table below shows, for the most recent 12-months that new home building permit data is available for from the Home Builders Association of St Louis & Eastern Missouri, there have been 4,610 new home building permits issued in the 7 counties they report on. This is just slightly less than was issued for the prior 12-month period ending April 2017, when there were 4,625 permits issued.
St Charles County New Home Building Permit Trend Continues to Fall…
There were 1,555 new home permits issued in St Charles County in the most recent 12-month period, a decline of 18.54% from the prior 12-month period. Year to date through April, there have been 447 new home building permits issued in St Charles County, a decline of 27%from the same time last year and a 35.2% decline from the same time in 2016.
St Charles County housing market doesn’t appear to be the problem
The overall real estate market in St Charles County is doing pretty well with 6,013 homes sold during the 12-month period ended April 30, 2018. That is a 2.5% decline from the prior 12 month period but still shows the demand is there meaning that decline in new home building permits is most likely not market driven but perhaps more related to lack of available ground.
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New home construction, based upon building permits issued, is up overall for the 7-county area covered in St Louis by the Home Builders Association of St Louis and Eastern Missouri (HBA). For the most recent 12-month period reported for this area, through the end of February 2018, there have been 4,720 single family permits issue versus 4,579 for the prior 12-month period, an increase of 3.08%.
As the table below shows, 5 of the 7 counties reported on by the HBA have seen double-digit increases in new home construction during the past 12-months, Lincoln County and St Charles County being the exceptions. St Charles County has suffered the most, with a double-digit decrease in home sales. The St Charles decline is likely at least partially contributed to a lack of developed lots.
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If I had a dollar for everytime someone asks me when is the best time to sell their home I would probably not have to be writing this article today and instead would be relaxing somewhere warm :). My initial answer, while somewhat snarky, is always the same “when you have a buyer“. Actually though, just because there is a buyer doesn’t mean you are realizing the best price and terms as may be possible.
It’s not really possible to be totally objective when analyzing this as no more which data I choose to use or consider is going to make it subjective, but I think I have come up with a reasonable criteria to base my answer on. For the purposes of this article, below are the criteria I selected to include in my analysis and why:
Sold Price Per Foot– For an overall market view, price per foot is a good way to look at a trend.
Days on Market – The time it takes a home to sell is certainly indicative of how good or bad a current market may be.
% of Original List Price Sold For – This is a very good indicator of the market for when sellers are able receive close to their original asking price it is typically indicative of a good market (and a good listing agent that knows the benefit of properly pricing a home at the start)
% of Current List Price Sold For – Like the previous one, and is somewhat an indicator of the strength of the current market but is probably more driven by a seller finally facing reality and getting the price to the point where their home sold.
I then created the chart below, using software created by MORE, REALTORS for the St Louis 5-County core market for the past 24 months and then plotted the data above. As the chart illustrates, during the past 12 months, one clear “winner” stands out when all the planets aligned (or data) to deliver the best result to the seller and it happend with closings that occured in June 2017. Therefore, the best month to sell your home is June, right? Wrong! Considering the average sale takes about 5 – 6 weeks to close, and these closings occured in June, the majority of these homes most likely went under contract for sale in April and May, with the majority in May. So, not surprising, since I believe most agents would give this answer without even doing research, but the spring market, April and May is the best time to sell your home. If you look back to June 2016 on the chart, while the % of original price didn’t fare as well as in 2017, June 2016 was defiinitely a winner month for sellers as well!
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So does this mean you shouldn’t sell your home in the winter?
One downside to conversations like this is it can create a certain panic among homeoweners that are considering, or need to sell, but have missed the spring season. Does this mean they should wait unitl next spring? While there’s a lot to take into consideration, the short answer is no, you don’t have to wait until spring. There are advantages to selling in “non-peak” seasons, including less competition, not to mention, if you are buying another home, you will have a better chance of getting a good deal.
Therefore, the perfect scenario is to put your home on the market for sale April 1st, sell it, close it and live in temporary housing. Then, December 1st, start the search for your new home. :)
Home prices in the St Louis 5-County core market increased 3.67 percent in the 12-month period ending February 28, 2018 to a median price of $186,500 from $179,900 for the prior 12-month period. During the same period, home sales in the St Louis 5-County core market increased 1.89% to 27,839 homes sold from 27,323 homes sold during the prior 12-month period.
As our table below shows, there were 1,489 homes sold during February 2018, and are currenlty 4,921 homes listed for sale, computing into a 3.3 month supply of homes for sale, continuing to favor sellers due to the low supply. A supply of around 6 months would normally result in a balanced market not favoring sellers or buyers, the likes of which we have not seen in some time.
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St Louis 5-County Core Market* Home Sales And Prices
(click the table below to be taken to current, complete report)
* St Louis City and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin
New home construction in the St Louis area is off to a good start for 2018 with a total of 326 building permits for new homes being issued during January for the 7-county St Louis area reported on by the Home Builders Association of Eastern Missouri. This permit activity in January represents an 11% increase over the activity in January 2017 when there were 293 new home permits issued. During the month of January 2018, 4 of 7 counties saw an increase in building permits from January 2017 (Jefferson County +26%, Franklin County +143%, Warren County +1%, St Louis City +371%) while the remaining 3 saw declines (St Louis County -25%, St Charles County -10%, Lincoln County -29%).
It takes more than a month for a trend…
Just like I often comment with regard to home prices and sales, looking at a single month of activity really does not paint the whole picture and, while it may be a good “leading-indicator” of where things are headed, it’s not going to accurately depict a trend. For this, I believe looking at the past 12-month period and comparing it to the prior 12-month period is more accurate. It takes into account the seasonal fluctuations that occur and adjust for unseasonal weather during a given month that could skew the data if just looking at a one-month period. The table belows the total building permits for the 12-month period ending January 31, 2018 and comparies that activity to the prior 12-month period for each of the 7-counties reported on. As you can see, five of the counties have a double-digit increase in new home building permits issued from the prior 12-month period while St Charles County shows a double-digit decline, and Lincoln County a slight decline.
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New Home Building Permits- St Louis Area – January 2018
New home construction in the St Louis and surrounding areas for the first three quarters of this year is up slightly from the same time last year, according to the latest permit data from the Home Builders Association of Greater St Louis. However, as the table below shows, only 4 of the 7 counties reviewed had an increase in building permits while the other three, including the county with the greatest number of building permits, St Charles County, saw a decline.
St Louis Area New Home Building Permits – Year to Date Through September 30, 2017
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The U.S. Department of Commerce just released it’s 2016 CHARACTERISTICS OF NEW HOUSING in which it revealed features, amenities, prices, sizes, etc of new homes built and sold during 2016 in the United States. You can see all the data in the complete report for the U.S. by clicking on the link however I’m going to just focus on the homes built here in the midwest region.
There were 69,000 new homessold (single-family) here in the Midwest Region of the United States, down from a peak of 205,000 in 2005. Eleven percent of the single-family homes sold were attached homes (8,000) and the remaining eighty-nine-percent (62,000) were detached homes, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Facts and Figures For New Homes Sold In The Midwest during 2016:
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New home sales in St Louis declined in 2016 after increasing during the prior two years, for both the entire St Louis MSA as a whole as well as the St Louis 5-County Core Market. As the 10-year charts below show, new home sales, fell steadily from 2007 for about the next 4 years as a result of the housing bubble burst and failing real estate market. Since hitting rock bottom around 2011, new home sales have increased slightly but have not done so with any great momentum.
New home sales in St Louis 5 County Core Market are still just a fraction of what they were…
In 2007, there were 1,374 new home sales reported in the MLS in the St Louis core market, and last year there were 603 new homes sold, a decline of 56% from 2007. Last years new home sales were down over 11 percent from the year below and are lower than the prior 4 years. In fact, in the past 10 years, only 2011 saw fewer new homes sold with just 568 that year.
The median price of new homes sold, as the charts illustrate, dropped from $240,750 during 2007 until hitting bottom in 2010 at $211,144, and then after falling off the 2011 level in 2012, has increased every year since and hit $273,000 last year. This represents an increase of 29% in the median price of new homes sold in the St Louis core market since 2010.
New home sales increased last year in St Louis County but fell in St Charles and Jefferson Counties…
As the individual county charts below show, St Louis county saw the number of new homes sold increase last year from the year before, increasing 34% from 127 in 2015 to 184 new homes sold in 2016. The median price declined during this period however, from $520,000 during 2015 to $467,990 in 2016.
St Charles County saw new home sales decline nearly 23% (22.9) from 363 in 2015 to 280 during 2016 while prices increased from $221,705 to $228,424. Jefferson County followed suit with new home sales falling 22.5% from 129 during 2015 to 100 in 2016 while prices increased 14.6% during the same period from $205,000 in 2015 to $234,917 in 2016. (We work hard on this and sure would appreciate a “Like”)[iframe http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FStLouisRealEstateNews&send=false&layout=standard&width=50&show_faces=false&font&colorscheme=light&action=like&height=35&appId=537283152977556 100 35 ]
Happy home builders? Wow, I remember those days, back before the real estate bubble and market collapse, boy were those the days! Well, the good news is, while builders still have their challenges, according to the latest Housing Market Index (HMI) from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), builders in the Midwest are more optimistic about the new home market than they have ever been! (or, at least since the beginning of the regional level index records that are published).
The NAHB Housing Market Index is based upon results of a survey done of the builders and other members of the National Association of Home Builders in which members are asked to rate market conditions in 3 ways:
The sale of new homes at the present time
How they feel about selling new homes over the coming six months
The traffic of prospective buyers through their new home displays and developments.
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As a real estate broker and former real estate developer and builder, I’m surprised how many transactions I see in which a new home buyer forgoes a private building inspection thinking, since the home is new, an inspection is not necessary. In my personal opinion, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a condemnation of St Louis home builders as I know most of them, are friends with many, and feel that, for the most part, we have some very qualified, competent and ethical home builders in St Louis. Having said that though, I do realize that mistakes and accidents happen. Not to mention, given that a typical home inspection will cost less than $1,000 in most cases, that is a very small price to pay when making what is for most home buyers, the biggest investment they will make.
What could be wrong with a brand new home?
There are a myriad of things that could be wrong with a new home ranging from potential major structural issues, to issues with the systems, such as plumbing, electric, etc, dangerously high radon levels, to items that are more minor and cosmetic in nature. Some of the problems, if not discovered during an inspection, may surface quickly after moving in and in time to be covered by the builders warranty but others may lie dormant for a long time and not surface until a time when it may be difficult to get the builder to accept responsibility. Having a private building inspection will help discover the issues early, before the issue becomes a nuisance to you and while not having to worry about whether it’s covered by the warranty or not as you haven’t closed on the purchase yet.
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New home sales in the midwest region of the U.S. during August 2016, increased 39.7 percent to a seasonally-adjusted, annual rate, of 81,000 new homes from a rate of 58,000 homes a year ago.
Nationally, new home sales during August were at a seasonally-adjusted, annual rate, of 609,000 homes, an increase of 20.6 percent from a year ago. The midwest region saw the greatest gains in new home sales during the period with the west region coming in second with a 35% increase from a year ago, then the south region with a 15.0% increase. The northeast region saw a 25.8% decrease in new home sales from a year ago.
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New home construction in August increased in the midwest region of the U.S. by 10.5 percent from a year ago to a seasonally-adjusted, annual rate of 116,000 homes. August new home construction activity in the midwest was up 6.4 percent from the month before as well when homes were constructed at a rate of 109,000 homes per year. This according to a report released today by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
In terms of actual (as opposed to seasonally-adjusted annual rates) new home starts, year to date there have been 80,000 new homes started, an increase of 13.6% from the same time last year when there were 70,400 new homes started.
On a national level, in August 2016, construction was started on new homes at a seasonally-adjusted, annual, rate of 722,000 homes, a decline of 6.0 percent from the month before and a decline of 1.2 percent from August 2015 when homes were started at an annual rate of 731,000 homes.
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New home construction in the midwest region of the U.S. occurred at a, seasonally-adjusted, annual rate of 112,000 homes in July, down 2.6% from the month before and down 6.7% from July 2015 when the rate of new home starts in the midwest was at 115,000 homes, according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Commerce. In terms of actual (as opposed to seasonally-adjusted annual rates) new home starts, year to date there have been 69,100 new homes started, an increase of 15% from the same time last year when there were 60,000 new homes started.
On a national level, in July 2016, construction was started on new homes at a seasonally-adjusted, annual, rate of 770,000 homes, the highest rate since February 2016 when it was 845,000, just about the same rate as in June and up 1.3% from July 2015 when the rate was 760,000 homes.
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New home sales in the midwest region of the U.S. , like the temperature during the period, soared in June 2016 to a seasonally-adjusted, annual rate, of 85,000 new homes, an increase of 44.1 percent from June 2015 when new homes in the midwest sold at an annual rate of 59,000 homes, according to a report just released by the US Census Bureau.
Last month, new homes were sold in the Midwest at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 85,000 new homes, and an increase of 10.4% from the month before when new homes sold in the midwest at a rate of 77,000 homes.
On a national level, new homes sales last month were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000 homes, an increase of 3.5% from the month before and an increase of 25.4% from a year ago. Nationally, there is a 4.9 month supply of new homes, down slightly from 5.1 months in May and from 5.5 months a year ago.
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The median price of a new home in the U.S. in 2011 was $227,200 and this year, thus far, the median price is $288,000, an increase of 26.7 percent in that five-year period, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. During this same period, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), as the chart below illustrates, rose just 6.1%. So why did the median price of new homes during this period rise over 4 times as much as the rate of inflation?
What is driving new home prices up?
The two major components to the cost of a new home are construction cost and finished lot cost. Presently, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), 61.8% of the price of a new home is construction cost and 18.2% is attributable to the cost of a finished lot. Both of these costs, which account for about 80% of the cost of a new home, have been severely impacted by costs associated with every increasing government regulations. In fact, as the chart below shows, regulatory costs for a new home increased almost 30 percent (29.8%) from 2011 to 2016 while, as I mentioned previously, CPI only increased 6.1%.
What about builder profit margins, are they to blame for higher prices?
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New home sales in the midwest region of the U.S. during March rose 10.3 percent from March 2015, according to a report just released by the US Census Bureau. In March 2016, new homes were sold in the Midwest at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 64,000 new homes, an increase of 18.5 percent from February, when the rate was 54,000 homes and a 10.3 percent increase from March 2015 when the rate of new home sales in the midwest was 58,000 homes annually.
On a national level, new homes sales in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 511,000 homes, down 1.5% from February and up just 5.4% from a year ago.
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New home construction in the midwest region of the U.S. continued strong in March with home builders beginning construction on new homes at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 123,000 home, a 41.4% increase from March 2015 when the new home start rate was 87,000 homes. March’s rate was a decline of 21.2 from February when an increase of nearly 90 percent from the year before sent the annual rate to 153,000 homes.
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Home builders began construction on new homes in the Midwest region of the U.S. in February at a pace of 153,000 new homes annually, an 88.9% increase from February 2015 when new home starts in the midwest was at an annual rate of 81,000 homes. February’s spike in new home construction was an 18.6% increase from January’s annual rate of 129,000 homes.
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In the St Louis area there were 44,674 (7.9 percent of all residential properties) with negative equity, or underwater, during the 4th quarter of 2015, according to a report just released by Corelogic. This is a decline of 18.6 percent from the year before when there were 54,604 St Louis homeowners in a negative equity position (9.7 percent of all residential properties) .
Wha is negative equity or being “underwater’
For homeowners considered to be in a negative equity, or underwater, position, means that the current balance of their home mortgage exceeds the current value of their home making it impossible to sell their home without bringing money to the closing table. This takes many would-be sellers out of the market as, even though they may like to sell their home and buy another, they just don’t have the cash available to cover the shortfall on their sale as well as cover downpayment and closing costs on a new home. Hence, one of the reasons for the low inventory of homes for sale in many parts of the St Louis area.
Near negative equity can prevent owners from selling as well…
In addition to the 44,674 St Louis homeowners that are currently in a negative equity position, there are an additional 16,720 homeowners (3.0 percent of the total in St Louis) that are in a “near-negative equity” position meaning that, while they are in a positive equity position, they are at risk of going into a negative equity position of home prices fall and most likely do not have enough equity in their home to cover the typical costs of a home sale and move to another home.
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New home sales in the U.S. in November rose 9.1 percent from a year ago, and increased 4.3 percent from the month before, according to a report just released by the U.S. Commerce Department. In the midwest region however, new home sales slid in November, falling 8.6% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 53,000 homes from 58,000 the month before and decreasing 10.2 percent from November 2014 when new home sales in the midwest were at an annual rate of 59,000 homes.
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Dodge Data & Analytics just released a report on “Green and Healthier Homes” in which it was revealed that many builders are seeing building green as a way to increase business and new home sales. In fact, according to the report, 83 percent of homebuilders and remodelers believe consumers are willing to pay more for a healthier home. This shows quite a change over the past decade as around 2005 I was developing quite a few residential properties and looked into the idea of adding some “green” features to some developments. This led me to Denver to tour many green loft projects and to return to St Louis all fired up on going green on a loft development I was planning. The problem is, as I dug into it and began researching the market and getting feedback on pricing, I found that while a high percentage of buyers said they would like to have the features, almost no one, said they were willing to pay anything extra to get it, much less the 5% or so we were projecting it would cost. Changing times I guess…
Highlights from the report:
Nearly one third of home builders (31%) report that they are currently doing more than 60% of their projects green, and over half (51%) expect to be doing that level of green work by 2020.
Over three quarters (77%) of builders report that building green costs 5% or more than the cost to build a standard home, and an even high percentage of remodelers (83%) agree.
New home sales in the U.S. in September lost some steam declining 11.5 percent from August, however, let’s not forget, August was a record month for U.S. New Home Sales which sold at the highest annual rate since February of 2008, according to a report just released by the U.S. Commerce Department. New homes sold in September at a seasonally-adjusted, annual-rate, of 468,000 homes, a decrease of 11.5 percent from the month before an an increase of 2.0 percent from September 2014 when new homes sold at an annual rate of 459,000 homes.
Midwest New Home Sales Fall For Second Month in a Row..
Here in the midwest region, new homes sold in September at a seasonally-adjusted, annual-rate, of 55,000 homes, a decline of 8.3 percent from August and also a decline 8.3 percent from September 2014 when new homes sold in the Midwest region at a rate of 60,000 homes per year.
The new home supply in the United States increased in September 18.4 percent to 5.8 months from a 4.9 month supply the month before and increased 5.5 percent from September 2014 when there was a 5.5 month supply.
New home prices rose 2.6% in September to a median price of $296,900 from $289,100 the month before and is 13.5% higher than a year ago when the median price of new homes sold in the U.S. was $261,500.
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Since the real estate market bubble burst in 2008, the number of foreclosed homes that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has had to manage and sell to investors and new home owners has increased significantly, averaging around 100,000 homes sold per year and hitting a peak of 111,416 HUD homes sold during fiscal year 2013. As a result, HUD has proposed several changes with regard to the disposition of REO properties, or, in plain terms, how they sell HUD homes. According to HUD, these changes “seek to provide greater efficiency in the administration of HUD’s property disposition program for REO properties….and provide flexibility in anticipation of future changes to the property disposition program for REO properties.”
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New home sales in the U.S. in August sold at the highest annual rate since February of 2008, according to a report just released by the U.S. Commerce Department. New homes sold in August at a seasonally-adjusted, annual-rate, of 552,000 homes, an increase of 5.7 percent from the month before an an increase of 21.6 percent from August 2014 when new homes sold at an annual rate of 454,000 homes.
Midwest New Home Sales Not Keeping Pace
Here in the midwest region, new homes sold in August at a seasonally-adjusted, annual-rate, of 60,000 homes, a decline of 9.1 percent from July but was an increase of 15.4 percent from August 2014 when new homes sold in the Midwest region at a rate of 52,000 homes per year.
The new home supply in the United States decreased in August 4.1 percent to 4.7 months from a 4.9 month supply the month before and declined 13.0 percent from Augsut 2014 when there was a 5.4 month supply.
New home prices remained about the same in August at a median price of $292,700 up slightly from $291,100 the month before and was $500 higher than a year ago when the median price of new homes sold in the U.S. was $291.700.
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On October 3rd some new regulations with regard to home mortgages and loan closings will go into effect that have the mortgage and real estate industry in a little bit of a panic. As a result of passage of the Dodd–Frank Wall StreetReform and Consumer Protection Act there is a major overhaul to the lending industry in the works.
Included in the new regulations are:
Changes to the forms used to disclose loan terms and settlement charges to you. Four confusing and complicated forms have been replace with two longer, complicated but slightly less confusing forms.
There are time lines in place as to when certain disclosures have to be made to you by the lender including minimum amounts of time that must lapse between different disclosures and steps along the way.
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New home construction activity in St Louis during July showed mixed results around the St Louis area. For the five-county core St Louis market that I focus on (city of St. Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Franklin and Jefferson) permits issued for new homes during July slipped 2.7% to 322 from 331 the year before. The decline was concentrated in just two counties however, albeit the two largest ones, St Louis and St Charles. St Charles county saw permits fall to 142 for July, down almost 25 percent from July 2014 when there were 189 permits issued and St Louis county saw permits fall nearly 13 percent during the same period from 78 permits in July 2014 to 68 in July 2015.
On a year-to-date basis, the 5-county core St Louis market is up 11.2 percent from a year ago with 2,257 permits issued versus 2,030 as of the same time a year ago.
For the St Louis MSA, as the chart below shows, building permits issued for new homes in July was up 13.8% from a year ago.
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New home sales in the midwest declined in July to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 54,000 homes, a decline of 6.9 percent from the month before when sales were at a rate of 58,000 homes, according to a report just released by the U.S. Commerce Department. The new home sales rate for the midwest in July 2015 was exactly the same as July 2014.
The new home supply in the United States decreased in July 1.9 percent to 5.2 months from a 5.3 month supply the month before and marks a decline of 14.8 percent from July 2014 when there was a 6.1 month supply.
New home prices increased 3 percent in July to a median price of $285,900 from $277,500 the month before and was 2 percent higher than a year ago when the median price of new homes sold in the U.S. was $280,400.
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