By Dennis Norman, on February 14th, 2016
For those that have been reading my articles for a while, you know I am not a Pollyanna when it comes to the real estate market, opting instead to tell it like it is, even when the news is not so encouraging. For that reason, as well as the data behind my opinion, I think my suggestion that now is a good time to buy a home in St Louis should be considered to be a credible opinion from an industry insider. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 11th, 2016
According to a report just released this morning by RealtyTrac, 6,809, of the 103,855 residential properties in the city of St Louis, are vacant. This vacant property rate of 6.6 percent for the City of St Louis is over four times higher than the national rate of 1.6 percent. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 10th, 2016
The St Louis real estate market performed well in January and 2016 is off to a good start! 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 on the market, you don’t want to miss this! Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 9th, 2016
If you live in St Clair and want to see your home, with an 18 month supply of homes currently listed for sale, you are going to have to either price your home very competitively to make it stand out from the crowd, or be prepared for it to take a while. As the table below shows, second on the list of cities with the highest supply of homes for sale, is Pacific, with more than a 13 month supply of homes for sale. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 8th, 2016
The St Louis real estate market is off to a good start for 2016 with non-distressed home sales during January increasing 30 percent from a year ago. In the St Louis five-county core market, there were nearly 1,700 total homes sold (1,697) during January 2015, up 19.3% from January 2015 where there were 1,423 total sales. Non-distressed sales (private sales only, no foreclosures, REO’s, etc) accounted for 1,430 of the home sales during January 2015, an increase of 30% from January 2015 when there were 1,101 homes sold. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 3rd, 2016
The St Louis real estate and housing market saw a good year last year but, as we are frequently reminded, real estate is very “local” and prices, as well as market conditions, can vary widely even between cities or towns just a mile or two apart. This is clearly illustrated when I look at a report our company produces, based upon home sales data, obtained directly from the St Louis REALTOR® MLS, that shows the median price per foot for homes sold (or currently for sale) throughout the St Louis area. I like price per square foot data as I believe that is one of the more accurate ways of seeing trends in home prices. We compile this data and publish it live, and real-time, online, for each city in St Louis as well as zip code. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 27th, 2016
Before I begin, I should point out that what I’m about to tell you runs contrary to what the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), the largest trade association in the country and one I belong to and support, will tell you. The NAR position on the mortgage interest deduction (MID) is, quoting from their website, “the mortgage interest deduction (MID) is a remarkably effective tool that facilitates homeownership.” Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 26th, 2016
Last year was a pretty good year for the St Louis real estate market with many areas of St Louis seeing an increase in the number of homes sold from the prior year and most of the St Louis area seeing home price appreciation. Many neighborhoods in St Louis saw some new record high home prices so I thought I would take a look at some popular St Louis neighborhoods and the most expensive homes sold in them during 2015. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 19th, 2016
The St Louis real estate market performed well in 2015 and, by all indications, 2016 should be an even better year for the St Louis real estate market! Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 12th, 2016
Last night, the City Council for the City of Florissant passed bill number 9135 which, if approved by voters in April, will increase residential rental real estate license fees. In addition to increasing the rental real estate license fee from $15.00 to $50.00, this ordinance also changes the calculation of the fee from a “per owner” fee to a “per unit” fee. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 8th, 2016
Yesterday, St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Gloria Reno granted a temporary restraining order against St Louis County to stop implementation of their recently adopted rental licensing ordinance. This is a huge victory for landlords, and property owners in general, as the new ordinance, as I wrote about previously, trampled property rights in many ways. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 7th, 2016
Along with the end of 2015 came one of the busiest time periods for listings of homes for sale to expire. To put it in perspective, during the last two weeks of December, there were almost 1,300 listings that expired within the St Louis five-county core market, more than double the number of listings that expired during the last two weeks of November. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 1st, 2016
As 2015 comes to an end and we welcome everything 2016 has in store for us, we say goodbye to one of the better real estate markets St Louis has seen in a while but eagerly await what, by most indications, appears to be an even better year for St Louis real estate, 2016! Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 29th, 2015
As 2015 quickly comes to an end, we close out what has been one of the better years for the St Louis real estate market in many years! Homes in St Louis sold at a brisk pace and St Louis home prices showed solid appreciation! We saw a spring market that brought home buyers racing to new listings often competing with other buyers to see who could make the best offer the quickest, often-times with the final sale price equaling or exceeding the asking price followed by a steady market throughout the summer and into the winter months. 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 December 23rd, 2015
When trying to decide whether to buy a home or condo instead of continuing to rent, many would-be first-time home buyers compare the cost of buying a home or condo versus renting something similar. Granted, there are other benefits that come with ownership (along with some additional responsibilities and risks, of course) including potential return on the investment, stability, etc but, if the first thing often considered is the cost of a house payment versus rent…if difference is too large and, therefore, the sacrifice to buy is too great, the consideration of buying often ends at that point. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 15th, 2015
As 2015 quickly nears the end, the St Louis real estate market continues to perform well (no doubt fueled, in part, by the unusually warm weather we are having) with year-to-date home sales through the end of November up nearly 9 percent from the same time last year and St Louis home prices up almost 4 percent from the same time last year. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 8th, 2015
St Louis Home Sales cooled a little in November with 1,519 homes sold during the month (in the 5-county core market) down slightly from a year ago in November when there were 1,531 homes sold. The median home price of homes sold last month in the 5 county market was $165,898, a decline from $170,000 the month before however an increase of 3.7 percent from a year ago when the median home price was $160,000. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 25th, 2015
The St Louis Real estate market remains fairly strong however, winter is coming! St Louis home sales in 2015 continue to outpace the year before however, as draw nearer and nearer to winter and the inevitable slowdown in the real estate market that comes along with the cold weather, we are seeing St Louis home prices trending downward and the supply of homes for sale trending upward. Currently, 4 of the 5 counties in the St Louis core market still have a median supply of homes for sale of less than 6 months, which is good, but it’s on the rise. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 20th, 2015
St Louis County has 6 Elementary Schools that have tested at least 50% higher on standardized tests than the average for the state of Missouri and are located in neighborhoods where home prices are affordable, according to a report just released by RealtyTrac. According to the report, these 6 good elementary schools are surrounded by homes that with house payments that will take less than 30% of the families monthly wages to buy, making them very affordable. In fact, for McKelvey Elementary, in Maryland Heights, the average family will need to spend less than 18% on a house payment to live near by. 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 November 10th, 2015
The number of homes sold “For Sale By Owner” (FSBO) dropped to a record low of just eight percent of all homes sold, according to the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Home Sellers report. A commentary posted on the Economist’s Outlook Blog by Amanda Riggs, Research Survey Analyst for NAR. on the NAR website indicated that homeowners that sell as a FSBO often find it doesn’t turn out as they expected either in the amount of time it will take on their part nor in the price they ultimately receive. Highlights from Rigg’s commentary include: Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 3rd, 2015
Four of the five counties that make up St Louis’ core real estate market appear to continue to be in a Seller’s market although the markets are cooling somewhat as prices on active listings are trending downward a little and inventories are increasing somewhat, according to the latest data from MORE, REALTORS. The remaining county, Franklin, is indicating a buyers market with a supply of homes for sale in excess of 7 months and home prices trending lower. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 26th, 2015
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. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 23rd, 2015
St Louis Home Sales rose to 2,209 homes sold during September (in the 5-county core market) from 1,992 homes sold in September 2014, an increase of 10.9 percent! September home sales declined 7.3% from the month before which is to be expected due to the seasonality of the market. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 19th, 2015
The St Louis Real estate market continues to out perform last year! However, as we head into winter, home prices in all five primary counties of the St Louis market are trending downward somewhat. However, as I’ve said so many times, real estate is very local so, as I would expect, some local markets are out performing others and home prices are trending upward.
So, if you are a homeowner, how do you know if now is a good time to sell? Well, if the supply of homes for sale in your market is low now could be a Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 12th, 2015
If you live in Crestwood, Glendale, Warson Woods or Rock Hill and have considered selling your home, now is the time! With less than a 2 month supply of homes for sale, these four St Louis communities are definitely seller’s markets and now would be the time to list your home for sale. In addition to those 4 areas, as the list below reveals, there are 17 other St Louis neighborhoods that are also very attractive seller’s markets, each with less than a 3 month supply of homes currently listed for sale. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 7th, 2015
Where are the buyers markets in St Louis? You cannot determine the health of a real estate market with just one piece of data, however, a good indicator of a potential buyers market would be areas with a high supply of homes for supply. Note that I said supply and not number. This is important, as some areas, such as Chesterfield for example, may have what seems like a large number of homes currently for sale, but given the size of the market and number of sales, it could still well be a sellers market. The supply of homes for sale on the other hand, takes into account the number of active listings as well as the rate of home sales and then determines how many months it would take to “sell out” of homes on the market if no new listings came on the market. A supply of around 4 -5 months has historically been pretty typical. The list below, which is from our real-time data that you won’t find anywhere else and is always up to date, shows the cities within St Louis with the highest supply of homes for sale based upon the current sales rate thus indicating a slow market with too much supply and very possible some good buying opportunities. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 30th, 2015
St Louis home prices have made a strong recovery since bottoming out in 2011 as a result of the housing market bubble bursting in 2008. In fact, for the 5-county St Louis area I often focus on (the city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) home prices have increased 27 percent to a median price of $168,313 after hitting a post-bubble low of $132,500 in 2011. In fact, as my chart below shows, the median 5-county home price for 2015 has topped the peak price of $160,000 at the height of the market in 2007 by over 5 percent. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 25th, 2015
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. Continue Reading →
|
Recent Articles
Helpful Real Estate Resources
|