By Dennis Norman, on June 17th, 2016
Home sales continue at a brisk pace and the inventory of homes for sale remains low in all five counties that make up the core St Louis market with St Charles county having the lowest inventory with just a 1.9 month supply of homes for sale. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 14th, 2016
If you want to buy a home today you have to be quick, especially in some neighborhoods where the demand is so high and inventory so low that many of the homes sell within a day or two of hitting the market. There are many ways to determine what are the hot neighborhoods in St Louis, but for the purposes of this article, I’m going to look at the average days on market of active listings to determine which cities in the St Louis where homes are selling the fastest. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 10th, 2016
This legislative session, the Missouri State Legislature passed HB. 1862, which modifies provisions relating to the existing landlord-tenant law in Missouri, specifically, it repeals sections 534.350, 534.360, 535.030, 535.110, 535.160 and 535.300 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri and replaces them with five new sections as described in the bill. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 9th, 2016
There are a variety of down payment assistance providers in the St Louis area where a qualifying home buyer can obtain assistance with their downpayment to buy a home. According to a report just released today by RealtyTrac, the average amount of down payment assistance covers the typical down payment on a median priced home in 4 out of five of the St Louis Counties that make up the core market, with St Charles County being the only exception. As the table below shows, in St Charles County the average down payment assistance of $5,000 falls short of the typical downpayment on a median priced home of $6,150 but still covers most of it. In the other 4 counties the down payment is more than covered. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 27th, 2016
Homes are selling in St Louis at a brisk rate evidenced by the fact that pending home sales, those listings that are under contract to a buyer but not yet closed, for 2016 through the end of April increased 9.2% from the same time last year. As the chart below illustrates, year to date pending home sales in the St Louis 5-County core market (city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) thus far this year are at a level higher than we have seen in years! Pending home sales in the month of April itself just barely outperformed April 2015 (be about 1/2 of 1%) but it did. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 24th, 2016
The National Association of REALTORS®, Case-Shiller and a host of other organizations report home sales prices on a monthly basis (as do we) usually with comparisons of the current months’s pricing to the month before as well as the same month in the prior year. While this is a very good way of spotting trends as well as a leading indicator to show what the near term future may hold in store, this is not necessarily the best data to base the annual change of home prices on. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 21st, 2016
There were 2,290 St Louis Existing Homes Sold in April (in the 5-county core market), an increase of 1.0 percent from April 2015 when there were 2,265 homes sold. The median home price of homes in the St Louis 5-county core market (city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Franklin and Jefferson) during April 2016 was $173,850, an increase of 4.4 percent from April 2015 when the median price of existing homes sold was $166,500.
For the combined markets of the City of St Louis and the County of St Louis, there were 1,241 existing single Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 17th, 2016
The current home price trend is down in each of the 5 core counties this month, but home sales are still robust in most St Louis markets and the inventory of homes for sale remains low.
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 and much more! If you are considering buying or selling a home, or are an investor or just a homeowner wanting to keep Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 10th, 2016
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. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 2nd, 2016
The St Peters real estate market is the hottest sellers market in the St Louis area, based upon the months supply of homes for sale. As the table below shows, as of today, there are 69 active listings of homes for sale in St Peters and there were 68 homes sold which translates to a one month supply of homes for sale there today. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 29th, 2016
During the 12 month period ended March 31, 2016, just over 1 of every 5 home sales in St Louis (21.46%) was a cash sale which is a decline of 9.2% from the prior 12-month period when nearly 1 in 4 home St Louis home sales (23.63%)was a cash sale. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 26th, 2016
Yes, believe it or not, in spite of how fast some homes, in some price ranges and neighborhoods are selling, often the first day on the market, and in spite of how many St Louis markets are currently seller’s markets, giving seller’s the upper hand in negotiations, there are some buyer’s markets in St Louis, where the buyer actually has an advantage over sellers! To find these markets, there is no one statistic or piece of data that can identify it, but I use a couple to find those markets and will share what I feel are currently the best places in St Louis to be a home buyer today. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 24th, 2016
It’s a beautiful spring Sunday morning in St Louis and many people will spend part of the afternoon touring open houses…some looking for their next home, some to see what homes in their neighborhood are selling for and some simply to kill time, satisfy curiosity or get some decorating ideas. Whatever your reason for seeking out St Louis open houses, the best source to find information on all the homes that are scheduled to have open houses today (with information from a database that is updated direct from the MLS!) is StLouisOpenHoues.com. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 23rd, 2016
Earlier this month, General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued guidance on the “Application of Fair Housing Act Standards to the Use of Criminal Records by Providers of Housing and Real Estate-Related Transaction”. This guidance has caused concern among many landlords as many, in an effort to assure safe housing for their tenants, do criminal background checks on prospective tenants and have a policies against renting to applicants with a criminal background, a practice that, according to this guidance, may very well be considered to be discriminatory now. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 22nd, 2016
Three of the five St Louis area cities where homes are selling the fastest are in north St Louis County. As the table below shows, which ranks St Louis area cities by the average days current listings of homes for sale have been on the market, which is a good measure of how fast homes are selling, the city of Crestwood, with an average of 29 days on the market, is number 1 on the list. In 2nd, 3rd and 5th place respectively are the north St Louis county cities of Moline Acres, Dellwood and Black Jack. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 21st, 2016
St Louis home prices appear to be trending downward a little even though we are in the midst of a fairly robust spring market. This is based upon the current price per foot of active listings for sale compared with what home sales that closed last month, as well as prior 12 months, sold for on a per-foot basis. As the tables below show, the price per foot trend is down in all 6 counties we track, with the biggest downward trends showing in St Louis County and the city of St Louis, both of which have seen the median price per foot of active listings fall below what homes in those counties sold for in the prior 12 months. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 20th, 2016
There were 2,869 St Louis Existing Homes Sold in March, an increase of 8.6 percent from March 2015 when there were 2,640 homes sold. The median home price of homes in the St Louis 5-county core market during March 2016 was $155,500, an increase of 3.3 percent from March 2015 when the median price of existing homes sold was $150,000 Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 19th, 2016
It’s hard to drive through a neighborhood today and not see a “coming soon” rider on a for sale sign in front of a house. With the St Louis real estate market still favoring sellers in many markets due to a low supply of homes for sale, it’s not surprising that coming soon listings create somewhat of a fervor among would-be buyers and their agents. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 18th, 2016
The number of months of supply of homes for sale in St Louis has increased in each of the 5 core counties, since last month, but the St Louis real estate market is still going strong!
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 and much more! If you are considering buying or selling a home, or are an investor or just a homeowner wanting to keep up Continue Reading →
By Mike Hejna, on April 8th, 2016
St. Louis County is entertaining the idea of adding the City of St. Louis to its list of incorporated municipalities. All legal opinions rmly show that the County will absorb NONE of the City’s nancial responsibilities. If this were to happen the City of St. Louis will be no di erent than municipalities such as Clayton, Ellisville, or Chester eld. It would simply be another city located in St. Louis County. I am an advocate for this move. The City needs to cease County functions and turn them over to the County. Currently, practices and city functions run at ine cient levels. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 30th, 2016
There were 1,875 home pending home sales in the St Louis area (5 county core market) in February, 13.7 percent less than a year ago when there were 2,172 pending home sales. Listings with a contract on them from a buyer, but have not closed yet, are counted as pending home sales. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 27th, 2016
A recent article by STL Today indicated that home affordability in St Louis had fallen, specifically noting that affordability in St Louis County had fallen below historic “norms”. As is always the case with stats, it depends upon which data you are taking into account and the accuracy of the data. I decided to take a look at the data and see if my data showed the same result as the STL Today article. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 25th, 2016
St Louis Home Sales in February rose to 1,973 sales for the 5-county core St Louis market, an increase of 4.9 percent from January’s 1,880 sales. February home sales (closings) in St Louis, while increasing 3 percent from a year ago, did not increase from January’s sales at the same rate as last year. From January 2015 to February 2015, in St Louis, we saw an increase in home sale closings of over 23 percent which, coming out of the historically slowest closing month of the year (January) and headed to the biggest selling market of the year (spring), we would expect. This year, however, we saw just a 4.9 percent increase in sales (closings) from January to February. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 20th, 2016
Today may be the first day of spring, but the St Louis spring real estate market has been here for a while already! Spring is always brings a better real estate market and this year, thanks no doubt partially to the mild winter we had here in St Louis, the spring market arrived early! Homes that are priced appropriately for the market, and in areas and price ranges of moderate demand, are selling fast! Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 17th, 2016
This morning RealtyTrac released a report identifying neighborhoods with higher rates of registered criminal offenders (including sex offenders, child predators, kidnappers and violent offenders) and then comparing the housing statistics for those neighborhoods to ones with lower rates of registered criminal offenders. For the report, cities were given an index, from 0 to 100, with a higher value indicating a higher percentage of offenders, then these cities were sorted into five categories, based upon their index, from Very High Offender Rate to Very Low Offender rate.
The findings from this report are below:
Cities in the U.S. at the Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 14th, 2016
Just like the early arrival of spring temperatures in St Louis, the spring real estate market has arrived early in St Louis as well! New listings of homes priced appropriately for the market and, in price ranges and areas of good demand, are having multiple showings the first day of hitting the market and are often under contact by day 2 or 3 of hitting the market. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 11th, 2016
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) . Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 1st, 2016
Pending home sales in St Louis fell slightly last month from a year ago for the 5-county core St Louis market (city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin). Through the end of last month, there were 3,182 pending home sales for the area, down slightly from 3,200 during the same period a year ago. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 25th, 2016
The St Louis real estate market is off to a good start for 2016 but that doesn’t mean there aren’t St Louis neighborhoods that are experiencing a buyer’s market giving home buyers an advantage over sellers, at least to an extent. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 18th, 2016
St Louis home prices have been, for the most part, increasing over the past couple of years at what most would consider from a historical basis, a “normal” rate. However, market conditions can vary widely from neighborhood to neighborhood as illustrated by the table below which shows St Louis zip codes where homes prices (on a per square foot basis) have increased the most in the past year. As the table shows, there are 13 zip codes in the St Louis area where home prices, on a per foot basis, increased over 10% during the 12 month period ending January 31, 2016 from the prior 12 month period. Continue Reading →
|
Recent Articles
Helpful Real Estate Resources
|