St Louis Home Prices - St Louis Real Estate News

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – December 2016

By Dennis Norman, on December 16th, 2016

All five counties in the St Louis core St Louis market are still “seller’s markets” all with under 6 months supply of homes for sale. The best sellers markets in town have a one month, or less, supply of homes for sale making this a great time to sell a home in spite of the fact it’s mid-December.

Want to know more? If so, then check out our just-released, 5-minute, video market update below which will go into more detail and give you a quick overview of St Louis home prices, where the sellers markets are, the buyers markets Continue Reading →

Ferguson vs Chesterfield – A Tale Of Two Cities

By Dennis Norman, on December 10th, 2016

A lot has happened to affect the real estate market where I grew up in the little town of Ferguson in North County over the past decade. First, like the rest of the country, beginning around 2000, Ferguson saw home prices increase at rates outpacing inflation until finally peaking in 2006 which then led to the housing market bubble burst shortly thereafter. Home prices in Ferguson, and everywhere else, then declined over the next few years until hitting bottom around the end of 2011, or beginning of 2012. Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Prices – Boom, Bust and Beyond

By Dennis Norman, on December 8th, 2016

Home prices in St Louis, like most places in the country, peaked around 2007 at the height of the bubble, then, when the housing bubble burst in 2008, home prices began falling and didn’t hit the post bubble bottom until around late 2011 or early 2012 in most areas. Since hitting bottom, home prices throughout the St Louis area have recovered not only regaining what was lost after the bubble burst, but, in most cases, rising back above the peak levels from the height of the bubble nearly 10 years ago. Continue Reading →

St Louis Cities Where Median Home Prices Have Increased The Most In Past Year

By Dennis Norman, on November 29th, 2016

Which cities within the St Louis area have seen the largest increases in the median price of homes sold during the past year? Well, the cities on the top 10 list are pretty diverse both in price range and location and some may surprise you. As the list below shows, the city of Pacific, in Franklin County, is at the top of the list with the median price of homes sold for the 12 month period ended October 31, 2016 coming in at $175,000, a 42.86 percent increase from the prior 12 month period. Continue Reading →

Existing Home Sales In St Louis Increase Six Percent In Past 12 Months!

By Dennis Norman, on November 23rd, 2016

Yesterday, the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) released their existing home sales data for October 2016 which revealed home sales in the U.S. during that month were at a, seasonally-adjusted, annual, rate of 5.6 million homes, an increase in rate of 2 percent from the month before. We track St Louis home sales data in a little different manner, comparing the most recent 12 month period with the prior 12 month period, so a rolling 12 month average of sorts, and, as the table below shows, home sales in the St Louis MSA for the 12-month period ending October 31, 2016, increased 6.64% from the prior 12 month period and we have branded the St Louis MSA housing market as a “Hot Seller’s Market”. Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Prices Rose Three Percent In Past Year

By Dennis Norman, on November 21st, 2016

Home prices in St Louis rose in the past 12 months compared with with prior 12 months, according to newly released data by MORE, REALTORS. As the report below shows, for St Louis City and County, the median price of homes sold during the 12 month period ended October 31, 2016 was $169,900, an increase of 3% from the prior 12 month period when the median sales price of homes sold in the city and county of St Louis was $164,900. Home sales increased as well during the period with 16,233 homes being sold in the 12 month period ended October 31, 2016, an increase of over 7% from the prior 12 month period when there were 15,149 homes sold in the city and county of St Louis. Continue Reading →

Boeing’s Consolidation Will Be Boost To St Louis Real Estate Market

By Dennis Norman, on November 17th, 2016

This past week Boeing Co., one of St Louis’s largest employers (5ht or 6th largest give or take) announced they would be moving 500 jobs to St Louis from Huntington Beach, California as part of it’s Defense, Space & Security business. The jobs they are bring to St. Louis are good jobs and will mean that roughly 500 employees, many with families, will be relocating to St Louis soon. Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – November 2016

By Dennis Norman, on November 14th, 2016

The supply of homes for sale in St Louis continues to decline in spite of entering the “slow season”. As revealed in our market update video for November, the supply of active listings throughout the St Louis area remains low and, in 4 out of 5 of the “core-market” counties, has decreased since last month. Contrary to popular opinion that spring is the best time to sell your home, if you are located in one of the areas with a very low supply you may very well want to take a hard look at selling now while the opportunity is there. Continue Reading →

Ten Neighborhoods In St Louis Where Homes Sell The Fastest

By Dennis Norman, on November 7th, 2016

When I last published our list of fastest selling neighborhoods, back in the height of the spring/early summer market in mid June, the city of Shrewsbury was at the top of the list with an average time on market for listings of just 29 days. Well, here we are approaching mid-November, the beginning of the typical seasonal slow down and Shrewsbury is still at the top of the list of fastest selling neighborhoods in St Louis and, to top it off, the average time on market of current listings is 34 days, just 5 days more than back in June! Continue Reading →

St Louis Median Home Prices In October Increase Nearly Eight Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on November 6th, 2016

The median price of homes sold in the St Louis MSA during the month of October was $165,000, a 7.8 percent increase from the median sold price of $153,1000 from October 2015 in the St Louis MSA. As the chart below shows, Continue Reading →

Home Loan Applications Decline As Do Mortgage Interest Rates; St Louis bucks trend

By Dennis Norman, on October 27th, 2016

New mortgage applications for a home purchase declined last week 7.0 percent from the prior week, according to a report just released by the Mortgage Banker’s Association (MBA). The MBA’s Market Composite Index, which is how they track the volume of loan applications, fell to it’s lowest level for home loans for a purchase since January 2016. Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – October 2016

By Dennis Norman, on October 19th, 2016

St Louis home sales and prices continue to trend favorably throughout the area. The inventory of homes for sale in the St Louis area has increased over the past month but that is expected given the seasonal slow down in home sales. Even though we are headed toward winter and the slower home selling season it brings, if you live in St Charles County or one of the other areas where the supply of homes for sale is low, you may want to strongly consider going on the market now to take advantage of what is still steady demand with little competition. Continue Reading →

17 Million First-Time Homebuyers Could Hit The Market During Next Five Years

By Dennis Norman, on October 18th, 2016

Up to 17 million first-time homebuyers may buy a home during the next five years according to a new study just released by TransUnion. Of these 17 million homebuyers, almost three million are expected to buy next year throughout the U.S. The study reveled some interesting facts about the first-time homebuyer market, as well as the impact of the millennial generation on the market, such as: Continue Reading →

Foreclosure Activity Falls to Pre-Bubble Levels – Distressed Home Sales In St Louis Getting Harder To Find

By Dennis Norman, on October 13th, 2016

There were 293,190 foreclosure filings in the U.S. during the 3rd quarter of 2016, which is a decrease of 10 percent from a year ago, according to a report released today by Attom Data Solutions. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter in which foreclosure activity has decreased on a year-over-year basis and continues the steady downward decline in foreclosure activity we have seen for 6 years and has now finally fallen back to levels we saw prior to the housing bubble. Continue Reading →

Finally Others Agree That The Mortgage Interest Deduction Isn’t Critical To The Housing Market

By Dennis Norman, on October 7th, 2016

Over the past 5 years or so I have written a few articles on the topic of the mortgage interest deduction (MID) and how, in spite of what many others in the industry say, I didn’t think it was that critical to the housing industry. All the while, the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) (of which I’m proud to be a member, just happen to disagree on this topic) has staunchly supported the MID and warned that if the deduction went away the housing market and home buyers would suffer. NAR published a fact sheet on the topic stating:

Repealing Continue Reading →

If You Live In One Of These Areas NOW Is A Good Time To Sell Your Home!

By Dennis Norman, on October 5th, 2016

Yes, it is October and yes, home sales, and prices, do tend to soften around this time of year as we head into the winter months, but, having said that, it can still be a great time to sell a home, especially if you are in one of the areas I’ve identified below! Why? Well, for one, there is VERY LITTLE COMPETITION but good demand from buyers. So, even though the St Louis housing market, including home prices, can be following suit with the weather and cooling off, when you are in a market with good demand and no competition, you can sell your home for more than you could under normal conditions this time of year. Plus, it’s a lot easier to please a buyer and motivate a buyer to act when there aren’t many homes to choose from and the buyer feel’s they’ll miss out if they don’t act quick enough. Continue Reading →

St Louis Distressed Home Sales Increase Over 40 Percent In August

By Dennis Norman, on September 27th, 2016

There were 184 distressed homes (short-sales and foreclosures) sold in St Louis (the 5-county core market) during the month of August, an increase of 44 percent from July when there were just 128 distressed home sales. Continue Reading →

St Louis Existing Home Sales In August Up Over 9 Percent From Year Ago- Beats National and Regional Sales!

By Dennis Norman, on September 24th, 2016

Existing home sales in St Louis during August 2016 were up 9.2 percent from August 2015, according to the latest data from MORE, REALTORS. There were 3,230 existing homes sold in the St Louis MSA during the month of August, an increase of 2.7 percent from the prior month, when there were 3,143 homes sold. Continue Reading →

St Charles County’s Strong Housing Market

By Dennis Norman, on September 19th, 2016

For some time now, if you are a home buyer wanting to buy a home in St Charles County, you didn’t have a lot to choose from and had to move fast when you did find a home and, for at least the near future, it doesn’t appear this will change. Continue Reading →

Are Home Prices Too High In St Louis?

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 →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – September 2016

By Dennis Norman, on September 15th, 2016

The inventory of homes for sale is creeping up, but still low! In this month’s video you will see that the St Louis real estate market remains strong as we close out the summer selling season and head into fall. The inventory of homes for sale has risen slightly, which is to be expected this time of year, but, overall, the market still favors sellers. Continue Reading →

Bridal Registry For Downpayment Money? Why Not?

By Dennis Norman, on September 9th, 2016

For couples planning to get married before you spend the time doing the bridal registry thing at stores, picking out housewares, china and perhaps some other things you don’t really need or won’t use, consider putting a house on your list! Continue Reading →

Should You Pay An Agent Bonus To Sell Your Home?

By Dennis Norman, on September 2nd, 2016

One of the more controversial topics to discuss within the REALTOR community is the topic of agent bonuses, a bonus that a seller, by way of the listing broker, would pay to the agent that sells their home, over and above the normal sales commission. Sometimes seller’s, or their listing agents, see this as a way to draw more attention to their listing and to encourage buyer’s agents to show it and sell it. However, there are many conflicting opinions on this topic within the industry which creates some confusion for seller’s (and buyer’s for that matter), so I thought I would take some time to discuss it. Continue Reading →

St Louis’ Fastest SOLD Neighborhoods

By Dennis Norman, on August 31st, 2016

If you are a home buyer looking to buy a house in Ellisville, you better move quick as the homes there are selling fast! As the table below shows, the average time it took to sell a home, for sales closed within the past 30 days, was just 13 days in Ellisville and, in fact, was below 30 days for all of the cities on the top 15 list. You can see where you city ranks by click on the table to see the current, complete list. Continue Reading →

Home Prices Up In All St Louis Area Counties From a Year Ago; Outlying Counties See Largest Gains

By Dennis Norman, on August 31st, 2016

St Louis area home prices, for the 12-month period ending July 31st, have increased from a year ago in all of the St Louis counties that make up the core St Louis market. As the table below shows, the median home price in the St Louis MSA for this period was $164,000, an increase of 5.81 percent from the same period a year ago. Two counties, Lincoln and Franklin, saw home prices increase at a higher rate than the MSA with increases of 7.88 percent and 7.69 percent respectively. The 3 top counties on the list are all outlying counties, Continue Reading →

Home Sales Up In All St Louis Area Counties From a Year Ago; Jefferson County at top of list

By Dennis Norman, on August 30th, 2016

Home sales in the St Louis area, for the 12-month period ending July 31st, are up from a year ago in all of the St Louis counties that make up the core St Louis market. As the table below shows, in spite of the fact that the St Louis MSA saw home sales fall 4.2% during the period from 33,840 homes sold to 32,415, all of the counties in and around the St Louis area on the Missouri side of the river saw increases. Continue Reading →

St Louis County Has Highest Natural Hazard Risk For Housing In The Area

By Dennis Norman, on August 25th, 2016

ATTOM Data Solutions just released their 2016 Natural Hazard Housing Risk Report, in which they score counties across the nation on risks posed to housing from natural hazards. As the heat map below illustrates, St Louis County has the highest natural hazard ranking in the St Louis area at 59.8, followed by the City of St Louis at 55.3. Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales Up Nearly 6 Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on August 24th, 2016

There were 26,039 homes sold in St Louis during the 12 month period ending July 31, 2016 (5-county core St Louis market), an increase of 5.9 percent from the prior 12 month period. As the table below shows, the median sales price during the past 12 months was $174,900, an increase of 4.4 percent from the prior 12 month period when the median price was $167,500. Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – August 2016

By Dennis Norman, on August 19th, 2016

The St Louis real estate market is still going strong! As the video below illustrates, the St Louis real estate market continues to do well as we head into the end of summer. The inventory of homes for sale remains low in most areas, which is good news for seller who face less competition and pricing pressure often resulting in multiple offers and quick sales. From a home buyers perspective it may not be as fun as buyers find themselves often competing and frequently losing out to other buyers that either got their first or offered more. Let your heart Continue Reading →

Percentage of St Louis Homeowners With Negative Equity Grows Slightly

By Dennis Norman, on August 11th, 2016

The number of homeowners that are “seriously underwater”, or in a negative-equity position (meaning they owe more on their home than it is currently worth), increased during the 2nd quarter of this year, according to a report just released by Attom Data Solutions. During the 2nd quarter of 2106, 17.8% of the homeowners, with a mortgage, in the St Louis MSA were in a negative equity position, up from 16.6% the quarter before and up just slightly from 17.4% during the 2nd quarter of 2015. Continue Reading →