By Dennis Norman, on February 9th, 2015 The St Louis real estate market is off to a good start and homes and condos in many neighborhoods are SELLING FAST! Find which St Louis neighborhoods are hot markets and selling fast as well as which are not and much more in our newly published, 5-minute, market video update for February 2015, below.
If you have considered selling your home, or perhaps tried and failed in the past year or so, now is the time to consider it again. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to let you know the value of your home in today’s market or, try our new online Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 28th, 2015 So you may be asking, why am I writing about crime here, after all isn’t this site about real estate? Correct but there are few things that can affect property values more than crime rates and school districts. Not to mention, from an economic development standpoint, crime also plays a role in the success we have as a region attracting businesses to St Louis to create jobs which also has a major impact on home prices. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 23rd, 2015 St Louis home sales for 2014 fell 2.4 percent from 2013 with a total of 30.557 homes sold in St Louis (in the 5-county core market) during 2014, shy of the 31,329 homes sold the year before. St Louis home prices, on the other hand, increased 5.6 percent during the same period, increasing from a median price of $142,000 for homes sold during 2013 to $150,000 for homes sold during 2014. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 17th, 2015 The 63376 zip code area of St Charles County, which includes the City of St. Peters and a portion of Cottleville, had the most homes sold in 2014 of any other zip code area in St Louis with 1,145 homes sold. For the zip area with the second most homes sold in 2014 we jump to the east side of the Missouri river with the 63021 area of St Louis County, comprised of Ballwin, Manchester and Ellisville, with 856 homes sold. The chart below shows the top 20 zip areas in the St Louis area and then the charts that Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 13th, 2015 St Louis home sales in 2014 failed to keep pace with the year before however St Louis home prices rose during the same period. How much they rose as well as how much St Louis home prices are expected to increase (or decrease) in 2015 are just two of the important pieces of information you will find about the current St Louis real state market in our newly published, 5-minute, market video update for January 2015, below.
There are neighborhoods throughout St Louis that are low on inventory and high on demand creating a seller’s market! If you have considered Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 10th, 2015 The bursting of the real estate market bubble back in 2008 led to opportunities for investors to buy up homes at attractive prices throughout the country and even attracted some large firms backed by Wall Street such as Blackstone, American Homes 4 Rent, Colony American Homes and Fundamental REO. While institutional ownership of commercial real estate, apartments and land has been very common, and in fact, predominant, since entering the business in 1979, firms like this investing in single family homes has not. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 5th, 2015 Clear Capital just released it’s list of the Top 50 Performing Real Estate Markets Forecast for 2015 for major metro areas and St Louis made the list at number 12! At the top of the list was Milwaukee-Waukeshawest Allis, Wi, followed by Columbus OH and Denver CO. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 30th, 2014 St Louis home sales fell to 2,065 homes in November 2014 for the St Louis 5-County Core Market (city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin), a decline of 3.3% from from 2,136 homes sold in November 2013 Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 23rd, 2014 St Louis New Home Sales in November 2014 increased 12.5% from November 2013 and, as would be expected given the time of year, decreased about 8% from the month before. New home sales in St Louis out performed new home sales in the Midwest Region as a whole as the region saw 4,000 new home sales in November 2014, the same as a year ago, and a decrease of 20% from the month before, according to the latest data available from the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD.
The median price of new homes sold in November 2014 was $235,900, an Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 18th, 2014 Most of the neighborhoods in St Louis have seen home prices increase over the past year, at least to some extent however, some are seeing home prices increase at more significant rates than others. So where are the St Louis neighborhoods that have seen the largest increase in home prices in the past year? Let’s being with how the data is computed. The table below is based upon current median list prices of homes for sale within a zip code. Zip codes that don’t have a sufficient amount of annual home sales to make their statistics accurate and significant have been omitted. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 13th, 2014 St Louis home sales are lagging behind last years however St Louis home prices are up from last year. How much are home prices up? What are the HOT St Louis real estate markets (and the COLD ones as well)? Find the answers to these, and many other questions you may have about the current St Louis real state market in our newly published, 5-minute, market video update for December 2014, below. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 10th, 2014 The Mortgage Delinquency Rate, the pre-cursor to, and leading indicator of, foreclosures, which play havoc with home prices, is expected to decline to 3.12 percent by the end of this month and continue to decline next year hitting 2.51 percent by the end of 2015, according to a forecast just released by TransUnion. If mortgage delinquency rates fall as lowest as forecast, it will hit the lowest level since the housing bubble burst. A home mortgage that is 60 days or more delinquent is counted in the mortgage delinquency rate for this report by TransUnion.
The report goes on to Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 9th, 2014 St Louis home sales slipped in November to 1722 home sales for the 5-county core St Louis market (the city of St Louis and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) from 1808 home sales in November 2013, according to the latest data available from MORE, REALTORS. Home prices in St Louis went the opposite direction during the same period however, rising from a median price of $147,500 for homes sold in November 2013 to a median price of $156,000 for homes sold in November 2014, an increase of 5.8% for the year. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 4th, 2014 St Louis ranked 14th on Clear Capital’s list of the 15 Lowest Performing Real Estate Markets based upon home price appreciation on a quarter over quarter basis. The report, based upon data through November 2014, shows Hartford, CT at the top of the list with a .6% loss in home prices for the most recent quarter from the prior quarter. The rest of the metro areas on the list, like St Louis, did have an increase in home prices from the prior quarter, just all .7% of less. At the other end of the spectrum, as the table below shows, Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 2nd, 2014 I spent most of my childhood as well as my early adulthood living in Ferguson and have fond memories of those days. I remember, as a young child, walking down South Florissant Road, south of Carson Road, past a head shop surrounded by hippies in a building on the east side of the street where now is just a parking lot, thinking how strange everyone looked and wondering what a head shop was. I also remember riding my bike all the way from my parents house on Spring to E.J. Korvette’s in Cool Valley to buy my mom a mothers Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 18th, 2014 I think most people know that good schools benefit the housing market and home prices in that district by creating more demand for homes in the district. This demand contributes to a healthy market and, the ultimate hope of most home owners, appreciating home prices that yield a good return on the investment over time. Conversely, the opposite is generally believed to be true as well that a poor school district has a negative effect on the housing market and home prices within that district.
How much effect does a school district have on home prices, whether a good district or Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 12th, 2014 Huntleigh is at the top of the list of St Louis’ Most Expensive Neighborhoods with homes selling in the past year at a median price of $1,375,000 followed by Ladue with a median sale price of $797,000, according to MORE, REALTORS. The chart below depicts median sale prices in blue for the 10 most expensive cities in the St Louis area and the median list prices in orange.
In terms of median list price, Huntleigh is also number 1 on the list with a median price of $2,350,000 for homes currently listed for sale followed by Westwood with a median Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 11th, 2014 Would you like to know how to sell your home for the highest price in the shortest time? If so, perhaps the best place to find the answer is from prior sellers that have been successful in doing just that. This, and much more information gathered from home owners that sold a home in the past year, was just released in the National Association of REALTORS 2014 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. This gives some great insight into what worked for sellers as well as what did not.
Highlights from the NAR 2014 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers:
Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 10th, 2014 St Louis home prices have increased in the past year while home sales are lagging a little behind last years pace largely due to a lack of inventory of homes for sale. Get more details on this, as well as a complete update on St Louis home sales, St Louis home prices as well as the St Louis Real Estate market in general in our new, 5-minute, market video update below.
There are neighborhoods throughout St Louis that are low on inventory and high on demand creating a seller’s market! If you have considered selling your home, or perhaps tried Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 7th, 2014 Robert G. Brinkmann, founder and CEO of Brinkmann Constructors, has listed for sale his 12,000 square foot St Albans estate home for $8.5 million. The Brinkmann estate, named “La Charette”, sits on 15.7 acres overlooking the Missouri river valley and claims to have “the most beautiful views in St Louis”. I was pondering the name given the estate, “La Charette”, and did a little research to try to find a connection between the name and Brinmann, who built the home 12 years ago. I looked first at the french definition of the word which is basically a “cart”, sort of like a chariot or wagon which at first made no sense to me until I discovered this type of French cart was often used to transport drawings. However, the other definition I found of it, which seems perhaps even more fitting, is (from Merriam’s) “the intense final effort made by architectural students to complete their solutions to a given architectural problem in an allotted time or the period in which such an effort is made.” Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 22nd, 2014 Around this time of year every year, people start asking me “Where is the real estate Market headed next year?” The real estate market is affected by so many factors that predictions on what the market will do are hard, however there are some basic fundamentals that can be looked at to make a good educated guess. One of the industry experts out there that I think does a good job at this and, offers a somewhat less biased look at the market than some, is Frank Nothaft, Chief Economist at Freddie Mac. Below are highlights of his most recent report on the outlook of the housing market along with my comments relating his projection to our St Louis market: Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 20th, 2014 St Louis Home Sales increased 2.66 percent in September 2014 from a year ago and St Louis home prices increased 3.19 percent during the same period, according the latest data available from MORE, REALTORS.
As the table below shows, three of the five counties that make up the St Louis core market, saw an increase in home sales in September 2014 from a year ago and four of the five saw an increase in home prices during the same period.
Search all St Louis Homes For Sale HERE
(We work hard on this and Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 11th, 2014 St Louis home sales are failing to maintain the pace of last years home sales but still remain fairly strong, especially when you take into account the small inventory of homes for sale compared with last year. St Louis home prices have increased in the past year which, along with other market signs, support that our housing market recovery in St Louis continues, albeit at a rather slow pace.
There are neighborhoods throughout St Louis that are low on inventory and high on demand creating a seller’s market! If you have considered selling your home, or perhaps tried and failed Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 7th, 2014 If you are one of the many parents of college-bound kids that is considering investing in a property to provide housing for your college student rather than waste money or dorms or rent, then this newly released info will help. Below is a list of the best college towns for renting property as well as the best college towns for flipping property, as compiled by RealtyTrac. St Louis didn’t make either list, actually nothing in Missouri did, however, many of the colleges and universities listed have plenty of kids attending from this area.
(We work hard on this and sure Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 22nd, 2014 St Louis Home Sales were down 5.21 percent in August 2014 from a year ago however St Louis home prices increased 6.44 percent during the same period, according the latest data available from MORE, REALTORS.
As the table below shows, Franklin County and Jefferson County saw an increase in home sales during the past year however the other counties that make up the core St Louis market did not. All of the five counties that make up the bulk of the St Louis real estate market saw an increase in home prices from last year with Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 10th, 2014 One month ago yesterday, officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown and suddenly Ferguson, the little city where I grew up and began my career in real estate in 1979, became the focus of national news and headlines for days and weeks ahead. Unfortunately, the coverage of the shooting has cast Ferguson in a very negative light and no doubt will hurt the progress the city has made over the past several years to revitalize its city and make it an attractive place to live, work and start a business. This website is about real estate, so while I think this Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 8th, 2014 St Louis home prices have increased 7 percent in the past year for the St Louis core market as a whole, but St Louis home sales have not followed suit and are on track for fewer home sales this year than last. You can find out more about this as well as get other useful information on the St Louis real estate market, including where the SELLERS MARKETS are in St Louis and the GOOD BUYERS MARKETS in our 5-Minute Market Update Video For September 2014 below.
Many areas of St Louis have become sellers markets due to increasing demand Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 3rd, 2014 I’ll be honest, there was a time, and perhaps not that long ago, when I wouldn’t have thought I would have used “Valley Park” and “Hottest Market in St Louis” in the same sentence but the day may have come! No, I have nothing against Valley Park, it’s just it has struggled in the past with perception issues but it appears it has overcome much of that and people today are seeing the value offered in this west county alternative to higher priced neighboring communities.
According to our Market Action Index (see below for the top 10 list) which looks Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 22nd, 2014 St Louis Home Sales were down slightly in July 2014 (2.25%) from a year ago however St Louis home prices increased 3.3% during the same period, according the latest data available from MORE, REALTORS.
As the table below shows, St Charles County and Franklin County both saw an increase in home sales in July 2014 from July 2014 while the other 3 counties in the core market saw a decrease in home sales during the same period. Home prices increased in the counties of St Louis, St Charles and Jefferson and declined slightly in the City Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 19th, 2014 The Fannie Mae monthly national housing survey for July 2014 shows 67 percent of those surveyed feel now is a good time to buy a home, down from 70 percent that felt that way the month before and down from 74 percent that responded in July 2013 that it was a good time to buy. Forty-three percent of the respondents feel now is a good time to sell a home, an increase from 40 percent the month before and up from July 2013 when 40% felt it was a good time to sell. Continue Reading →
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