By Dennis Norman, on February 21st, 2024 
Whether you’re looking to buy or rent a home, your credit score is more than just a number—it’s a gateway to your future residence. A recent survey by LendingTree has shed light on the significant role credit scores play in Americans’ access to financial products, including those crucial for securing a home. Here’s a recap of the findings and their implications for the St. Louis real estate market.
Key Findings:
High Denial Rates: 42% of Americans reported their credit scores prevented them from obtaining a financial product in the past year, with this figure soaring to 74% among those with Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 1st, 2022 According to results just released by Lending Tree from a survey they conducted in October, 41% of American’s surveyed expect the housing market to crash next year. As the table below, which shows the results by generation, the Millennials are the most pessimistic about the market with 44% of the millennials surveyed believing the housing market is headed to a crash. The most optimistic generation? Baby boomers, with only 35% of the generation I belong to believing we are headed to a crash.
Inflation is the leading culprit…
Of those surveyed that believe the housing market is headed for a Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 11th, 2022 According to Fannie Mae’s® Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI), 70% of consumers say it’s a bad time to buy a home while 25% feel it’s a good time to buy. As the chart below illustrates, this is the highest level reached for it not being a good time to buy in the 3-year period the chart covers. Actually, this is the highest level it’s reached since Fannie Mae began tracking the data in 2010.
Millennials are pessimistic about home buying…
The bottom chart also reflects the sentiment of consumers in the survey about buying a home now but Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 14th, 2018 I may have the answer to the $64 question, why aren’t more millennials buying homes? The real estate industry spends a fair amount of time discussing the millennial generation trying to determine where they want to live, urban or suburban, and whether they want to own a home or are happier being a renter. I have found many answers are contained In the Census Bureau Report, “The Changing Economics and Demographics of Young Adulthood: 1975–2016“.
There are some fascinating facts in the report, many of which give a lot of insight into this generation as well as their housing needs Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 27th, 2018 In the Midwest region of the U.S., the homeownership rate rose to 68.3% during the 2nd quarter of this year from 67.9% in the first quarter, according to a report just released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The homeownership rate of 68.3% in the Midwest region is higher than the homeownership rate for the U.S. as a whole, which came in at 64.3% during the 2nd quarter, and is the highest of any region. The South region has the 2nd highest homeownership rate at 65.9% and the West region the lowest at 59.7%, according to the report.
So much for Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 23rd, 2018 The millennial generation, people born from 1981 through 1994, is predicted to outnumber the baby boomer generation sometime in 2019. Given the size of the generation, as well as the fact many are getting married and starting families, the real estate industry is very interested in these young people. Much time is spent trying to figure out whether they want to buy or rent, whether they will consider the suburbs or just stick to urban areas, etc.
Therefore, it does not come as a surprise that more than a third of the residents in the city of St Louis are Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 10th, 2018 Just over 1 of every three (34%) homebuyers in 2017 were first-time homebuyers according to the With the growing population of millennials reaching an age where many are buying homes, I expect to see the percentage of first-time homebuyers increase over the next couple of years.
Many first-time homebuyers find the home buying process to be a little intimidating which is largely due to just lacking the experience of having done it before and the knowledge that is gained from the experience. However, with a time spent getting educated on the process, the fears can be calmed and the home Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 12th, 2017 In the real estate community there are frequent discussions about the millennial’s and their impact on the real estate market. Since their generation makes up the largest share of the population presently, their interest, or lack thereof, in homeownership definitely has the attention of us in the real estate industry. The consensus among many in the real estate industry is that millennials don’t value homeownership as much as their baby boomer parents did, and do, however, they don’t necessarily have anything against the idea. The millennial generation seems to be more driven by lifestyle and flexibility than whether or not Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 21st, 2016 The city of St Louis is one of the “Top 17 Single Family Rental Millennial Meccas”, according to a report just released by Attom Data Solutions. As the interactive info graphic below shows, St Louis joins the likes of Baltimore Maryland, Milwaukee Wisconsin and El Paso Texas, along with others, as a place that is ripe for investors to rent homes to millennials. For the report, millennial were defined as people born between 1979 and 1993. According to the report, investors that purchased rental homes in the city of St Louis during the first half of 2016 saw a gross rental yield of 12%, nearly 50% higher than the national average of 8.7%. In addition, millennials make up nearly a third of the population of the city of St Louis (29.3%) and 29.8% of the city is rental property, making for a solid rental market. On the downside, the average wages in the city of St Louis is down 2% from last year. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 16th, 2016 Last week, National Mortgage News, published an article on a report which indicated home prices and homeownership rates are “out of whack”. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 28th, 2015 I have the honor of serving as chairman of the St Louis Industry Forum which consists of leaders of professional and trade associations that are engaged in some aspect of the real estate industry in St Louis (such as REALTORS, Builders, Mortgage Lenders, Bankers, etc) and at our bi-monthly meetings millennial’s are often the topic of conversation with regard to this generations thoughts on home ownership vs. renting, where they want to live and other related matters. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 17th, 2015 According to a report just released by TransUnion, the mortgage delinquency rate for borrowers that are 60 days or more delinquent, declined almost 30 percent during the 3rd quarter of 2015 from a year ago. During the third quarter of this year, the mortgage delinquency rate was 2.40%, down from 3.36% during the third quarter of 2014. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 30th, 2015 In St Louis Nearly One In Every Home Sales Is A Condo – As the table below shows, during 2015 nearly one of every 8 (12.22%) home sales in St Louis has been a condominium, exactly the same as last year, and higher than the 11.61% rate on the national level shown in the second table below. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 12th, 2015 There have been many recent articles and reports about the millennial generation and why they are not buying homes at the same rate as earlier generations did at their age. Many point to the burden of student loan debt as a cause of their inability to qualify for a mortgage thereby holding the millennials back from buying a home. However, a new study by TransUnion suggests this may not be the case. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 2nd, 2015 The city of St Louis made the list of the top 50 markets to rent to Millenials, published by RealtyTrac. In determining the best markets in the U.S. for renting to millennial (most of whom are in their 20’s or early 30’s), RealtyTrac looked at rental markets where the gross annual yield on rentals was at least 9 percent, where Millenials make up more than 22 percent of the market (the national average) and where the Millenial population had increased at least 5% from 2007 through 2013. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 24th, 2014
The Millennial generation, consisting of people born between 1980 and the mid-2000s, make up about one-third of the U.S. population and, as more of them are becoming adults, have been seen as perhaps the saving grace to a lagging home market. Unfortunately, thus far, the Millennial’s have appeared to favor renting rather than buying, although that may be more the result of necessity than desire, the result of increased student loan debt and tight lending standards. However, according to a survey of Millenial’s recently conducted by the California Association of REALTORS, a majority of the Millenial’s plan to buy Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 8th, 2014 Millenial’s (people that are roughly 18 to 33 years old) are not as interested in buying homes today as their baby-boomer parents were at their age and, while there are probably some lifestyle issues that play a large part of it, the debt they are piling up in student loans may have something to do with their decision not to take on mortgage debt as well. According to information provided by TransUnion, the percentage of Millenial’s debt that is attributed to student loans is 36.8% today, an increase of over 185% from 2005 when student loans were responsible for just Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 12th, 2013 “McMansions”, which Wikipedia defines as “a large, new house in a sub-division of similarly large houses, which all seem mass produced and lacking distinguishing characteristics” and became popular in the 80’s and 90’s, are not appealing to today’s younger home buyer, according to a survey conducted by Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate. According to the survey, “Millennial’s” which, for the sake of this survey was considered to be people between the ages 18 and 35, are looking for a home that is distinctly different than that of their parents generation which, for many of them, are the baby boomers. This group of young home buyers are not looking for stereotypical and prototypical luxury homes (ie: McMansion) but instead want homes that are different and suit their personal lifestyle. Continue Reading →
By Chase Gentry, on June 12th, 2012 Are you ready to tackle that bathroom renovation you’ve been putting off? Before you pick up the phone and hire a contractor, why not save some cash and try your hand at it. Considering the cost of renovations for homeowners, DIY has gained popularity. The following list, created by Construction Management Degree.com, contains 100 of the top DIY websites to help guide your home improvement projects, in no particular order. We arrived at this list through our own research, and for the benefit of our readers. The list is organized by area of the home including; General Remodeling, Interior Decorating, Kitchen and Bathroom, Office and Workspaces, Landscaping and Exterior, Basement, Storage, and Closets. Continue Reading →
By News Desk, on November 11th, 2011 Candidate positions on housing will be important considerations to nearly seven of 10 Americans (69.6%) in the 2012 presidential and congressional elections, according to a new national survey on housing released today by Move, Inc. This is especially true for Millennials(1) (70.7%), the next generation of homebuyers and the segment expected to play as important a role in the 2012 elections as they did in 2008. Continue Reading →
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