St. Louis Real Estate News; St Louis home prices fall in September but projected to increase 2.4 percent in next twelve months

By , on November 19th, 2009

Dennis Norman

According to a report issued by First American CoreLogic national home prices continue to decline with their HPI (Loan Performance Home Price Index) declining by 9.8 percent in September 2009 compared with the year before. If you take the distressed sales out (foreclosures, short sales, etc) the nation decline in HIP for the same period was 6.2 percent.

St. Louis home prices did better according to the report with the HPI declining 3.85 percent in Sepetember 2009 from the year before. This is an improvement over August which was down 4.09 percent from the year before. Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate News St. Louis Real Estate Market Update

By , on November 18th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Home sales in the St.Louis area through October 31st are down 4.8 percent from the same period a year ago, however this is a decrease of almost 40 percent from the month before when sales were down 7.9 percent from the same period the year before. St. Louis area median home prices for the period are down 6.5 percent from a year before however this is also an improvement from the 7.1 percent decrease for the month before. The average time it takes to sell a home in the St. Louis area is 2.2 percent less Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate News – St Louis mortgage rates drop again this week remaining below 5 percent

By , on November 17th, 2009

St. Louis mortgage rates dropped this week to almost record lows according to St. Louis-based Paramount Mortgage Company.

Lower interest rates, low prices and the extension and expansion of the home-buyer tax credit should be pretty tempting to buyers out there.

St. Louis Mortgage Rates – November 17, 2009 *

Continue Reading →

Want to buy a home and be guaranteed you won’t lose money, even if the value drops?

By , on November 13th, 2009

Dennis Norman

I can remember a time, not that long ago, where about the last thing people were concerned about was the value of their home going down. After all, for decades, our homes proved to be safe investments….no, we weren’t going to see their values shoot up 50 percent in one month like some hot tech stocks of the past, but nor were we going to see them drop by the same amount in a month. Nationally home values increased about 5 percent a year, year after year. That was until around the end of 2007 when Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate News – St Louis mortgage rates drop this week below 5 percent

By , on November 10th, 2009

St. Louis mortgage rates dropped this week to almost record lows according to St. Louis-based Paramount Mortgage Company.

Lower interest rates, low prices and the extension and expansion of the home-buyer tax credit should be pretty tempting to buyers out there.

St. Louis Mortgage Rates – November 10, 2009 *

Continue Reading →

Fewer home owners are underwater on their homes according to Zillow report

By , on November 9th, 2009

Dennis Norman

The percent of American home owners with mortgages in a negative equity position fell to 21 percent in the third quarter of this year, down from 23 percent in the second quarter, as home values stabilized in the short term and more underwater homeowners lost their homes to foreclosure, according to the third quarter Zillow Real Estate Market Reports.

Year-over-year home values in the U.S. declined for the 11th consecutive quarter, falling 6.9 percent to a Zillow Home Value Index of $190,400. However, the rate of year-over-year decline shrank for the third quarter in a row, meaning Continue Reading →

Setting Up the Next Leg Down in Housing

By , on November 4th, 2009

Loose lending standards in government-backed mortgages is setting up the next wave of defaults and sharp declines in housing prices.

Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds

Beneath the hype that housing has bottomed is an ugly little scenario: lending standards are still loose and the low-down payment, high-risk loans being guaranteed by government agencies are setting up the next giant wave of defaults and foreclosures.

You might have thought that the near-demise of risky-mortgage mills Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have cooled the supply of highly leveraged Continue Reading →

Why We’re Walking Away

By , on November 3rd, 2009

I posted yesterday on the Wall Street Journal article Report Sheds Light on Why Homeowners Walk Away. A couple of commenters on the WSJ article said why they were walking away from their mortgage, and I thought their comments were interesting enough to repeat. The first walker says that as a good borrower he is unable to have his loan modified, the second blames bank policies:

The banks (my lender is CITI) are unwilling to modify mortgages for the people able to pay. I suspect if the people underwater, but with money and good credit – you know, responsible people Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate – St. Charles County home price declines vs assessors property values; Update

By , on October 26th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Last week I did a post after reading an article on StlToday.com about the change in property values being made by St Louis area assessors from 2007 to 2009. As I pointed out in my article I assumed the values shown by the assessors including ALL types of property and not just homes, however my analysis was based only upon the sale prices of homes.

Prior to doing the post I had requested just the residential data from the assessor’s office for the area counties but had not been able to obtain that data. Subsequently I Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate Market Update – 3rd Quarter Report

By , on October 23rd, 2009

Dennis Norman

Due to the overwhelming demand for up to date information on the St. Louis housing market, as well as the positive response to our prior reports we have published, at St. Louis Real Estate News we will now be publishing “St Louis Real Estate Market Update Reports on a regular basis. We hope that you enjoy the information and we certainly hope the reports start having more positive news in them soon. If there is any data we are not including that you would like to see please let us know in a comment.

Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate – St Louis area home price declines vs assessors property values

By , on October 22nd, 2009

Dennis Norman

In an article this morning on StlToday.com I saw where property values, as determined by the St. Louis CountyAssessors office, declined 6.1 percent from 2007 to 2009. Hmm, I thought, that sounds pretty good actually, I think the St. Louis housing market would be doing great if that was close to reality. To see how the actual St. Louis housing market did during the same period I researched the sales prices of homes sold in the St. Louis metro area in 2007 and 2009 then computed the change in value during the period. Continue Reading →

St Louis housing prices projected to drop 1 percent in next 12 months

By , on October 19th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Veros Real Estate Solutions released their quarterly report projecting how the housing market is going to perform in the next 12 months in major metropolitan areas of the U.S. The bad news for St. Louis is, we didn’t make the list of top 5 metros in terms of expected housing price performance. The good news is we didn’t make the list of the 5 worst markets either.

The top-performing metros are projected to have housing prices appreciate 5 percent over the next 12 months and the worst peforming metro are expected to see Continue Reading →

Over 30 percent of St. Louis homes for sale have had price cut

By , on October 15th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Last week I did a post on another blog about a report that had just been released by Trulia indicating that over 25 percent of the homes listed for sale in the U.S. had experienced a price reduction in the 5-month period from June 1 through October 1st and that the average price reduction was about 10 percent.

In an effort to see how things here in St. Louis were stacking up to the national numbers from Trulia, I wanted to assemble the same data, for the same period that Trulia did and see how we Continue Reading →

The St. Louis Real Estate Market Bubble and Burst; St. Louis County hurt the worst in the area

By , on October 13th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Statistics and reports are flying at us from every direction about the real estate market nowadays. Some reports say we have hit bottom, some even say the housing market has started a recovery others say worse times are ahead. Since I don’t think anyone can really tell us what the future has in store for the housing market I thought now may be a good time to look at history…at least short term history, to see where things stand at this point. Along the way we may see a trend or perhaps even feel like we Continue Reading →

Homebuyer Tax Credit Best Tool for Sustaining Housing Recovery, Says NAR

By , on October 8th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The best available tool for sustaining the still-fragile housing market is the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit, (expires November 30) and it is essential that Congress extend the credit into 2010, the National Association of Realtors® testified at a hearing of the U.S. House Small Business Committee yesterday.

NAR Regional Vice President Joseph L. Canfora said “the credit is working,” pointing out that the 355,000 to 400,000 transactions directly attributable to the credit made a significant dent in the housing inventory and will help to stabilize home prices. Further, the credit has provided a Continue Reading →

Homebuyer tax credit has been primary cause of recent return of buyers to market according to study

By , on October 5th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Results have just been released of a study conducted by Rosen Consulting Group as to the effectiveness of the 2009 first-time-homebuyer tax credit and the potential need for an extension of the credits.

The Rosen Consulting Group was retained by Fix Housing First, a coalition that was originally working to convince Congress for a housing stimulus package that they feel would have a more significant then what was ultimately passed, and since has been working to get the tax credit extended beyond its current expiration date of November 30, 2009.

The study noted Continue Reading →

Average home prices across US are about where they were six years ago

By , on September 29th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, home prices in July declined 12.8 percent from a year ago in their 10-city composite and 13.3 percent in their 20-city composite. On a positive note, all 20 metro areas showed an improvement in the annual rates of decline when comparing July to June.

Continue Reading →

Home prices down 30 percent since peak in 2005 and trend is downward

By , on September 28th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

I came across an interesting chart that I want to share. The chart below, courtesy of Chart of the Day, shows median home prices in the U.S. since 1970 (adjusted for inflation). As you can see from the chart, home prices trended upward from 1970 until peaking in the late 70’s (right around 1979 when I got into real estate, great timing on my part!) and then began dropping until the mid 80’s when prices began a rather rocky and unsteady climb upward.

As the chart illustrates, median home prices really started increasing, and Continue Reading →

Existing home sales in Midwest drop 6.6 percent from July to August; St Louis down 9 percent

By , on September 24th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

According to the latest report released today from the National Association of REALTORS(R), existing home sales for August in the Midwest dropped 6.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.14 million units down from a level of 1.22 million units in July. The August home sales rate of 1.14 million happens to be exactly what it was this time last year for the Midwest which is not as well as the US is doing as a whole. As a whole, the rate of existing home sales in August was up 3.4 percent from Continue Reading →

US Home Prices show modest 0.3 percent increase from June to July according to Federal Housing Finance Agency

By , on September 22nd, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Today the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported that U.S. home prices rose 0.3 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis from June to July and are down 4.2 percent for the past year. Missouri is included by the FHFA in the West North Central division which was right on target with the US with an increase of 0.3 percent from June to July. Our region was only down 1.5 percent from last year according the report.

Many of the reports I’ve seen in the press on this are saying this is a sign of the Continue Reading →

New home construction in Midwest on the rise; Construction outpacing sales

By , on September 17th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

This morning the US Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued their report on New Residential Construction for August 2009 showing a slight decrease in new home construction activity from July in the US, but an increase in new home construction activity here in the Midwest.

The report shows the following for the Midwest Region:

Continue Reading →

Deutsche Banks’ Weaver says housing market has not hit bottom yet

By , on September 15th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Before the sub-prime mortgage implosion Karen Weaver warned of the coming crisis. Karen Weaver, the Global Head of Securitization Research for Deutsche Bank, said last month that she expected home prices to continue to drop through the 1st quarter of 2011. She also predicted that nearly half of the homeowners with mortgages would end up being underwater on their mortgages.

Yesterday Ms. Weaver said that in spite of the recent positive news on the housing market that she had not changed her position and is still predicting home prices to fall another 10 percent before finally reaching Continue Reading →

Title Insurance 101 from a St. Louis Title Professional – Final post in the series

By , on September 5th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Over the past two days I published the first part and second part of my E-View TMwith Wendy Cromer, Vice-President of Marketing for Security Title Insurance Agency, LLC about title insurance, the new laws affecting it and things consumers should know.

Wendy Cromer, Vice-President of Marketing, Security Title Insurance Agency LLC

Today were going to do the final part of our E-View TM with Wendy:

Dennis-Wendy, title insurance seems to be one of those things that is a mystery to most homeowners. Can you please explain what title insurance is and Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate Market Facts and Figures for July 2009

By , on September 2nd, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The National Association of REALTORS(R) and the St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R) have just released information on the St. Louis real estate market for July. Following are some highlights from the data which is for St Louis city and county.

Sales for July (existing homes-does not include new):

Single family homes – 1446 for the month 48 percent had 3 bedrooms Condos and Coops – 243 for the month 77 percent were 2 bedrooms or less Continue Reading →

Beware The False Bottom In Housing

By , on August 28th, 2009

Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds

By: Charles Hugh Smith:

In February 2007 I suggested a 4% mortgage delinquency rate could trigger a decline in the entire housing market. Since that proved prescient, we should revisit the analytic tool behind that call: the Pareto Principle.

There is a whiff of euphoria in the housing market, a heavily touted confidence that “the bottom is in.” It’s all roaring back–rising sales, multiple bids by anxious buyers, 3.5% down payments, low mortgage rates and the bonus of an $8,000 first-time home buyer credit (a gift from U.S. taxpayers). Continue Reading →

St Louis home prices declined more in past year than national average

By , on August 24th, 2009

Dennis Norman

According to a report issued by First American CoreLogic national home price declines continue to improve citing that national housing prices fell 7.8 percent in June 2009 compared to June 2008 representing the small est year-over-year decline recorded to date in 2009. This was a 0.7 percent improvement over Mays decline of 8.5% from the prior year. St. Louis did not fare quite as well in the CoreLogic report. The report shows St Louis home prices decreased 11.34% in June, 2009 compared to June 2008 and, opposite the national trend, represented a 1.43% larger decline than Mays Continue Reading →

One in twelve borrowers seriously delinquent on their mortgage

By , on August 22nd, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

All the news lately about the housing market, home sales in particular, has been encouraging and showing signs of stabilization in the real estate market and demonstrating that the real estate market may have seen the worst. Just when you think you may be through the storm though you see another dark cloud lurking in the distance. For the real estate market this dark cloud could very well be mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures.

At the end of this week the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that serious mortgage delinquencies (homeowners that are 90 or Continue Reading →

St Louis Housing Market has 6.8 percent increase in homes sales in July

By , on August 21st, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The St. Louis housing market is showing some signs of strength with St Louis home sales increasing in July to a seasonally adjusted rate of 21,038 homes, an increase of 6.8 percent from June’s seasonally adjusted rate of 19,691 homes. This increase for the month is very close to the increase in home sales in the U.S. according to the report released today from the National Association of REALTORS(R), existing home sales in July rose 7.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.24 million units up from a level of 4.89 million units Continue Reading →

House Prices in St Louis Increase in June; St Louis ranks 5th in 2-year house price change

By , on August 20th, 2009

Dennis Norman

According to the Housing Market Report that was issued this morning by Radarlogic, home prices increased in June from the previous month in 23 out of the 25 metropolitan areas tracked by their company. St. Louis was among the 23 metros that showed an increase in home prices in June over May.

Overall the composite for all 25 metros showed a 3 percent gain in price from May to June representing one of the largest monthly gains reported by RadarLogic since June 2000. St. Louis home prices increased 2.2 percent over May.

There has been a Continue Reading →

Advice to sellers from a St. Louis REALTOR – final post in the series

By , on August 13th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

We’ll pick up where we left off after parts one and two of this series about selling a home in this market:

Question- Now for the $64 question, how should a seller properly price their home in this market?

Answer- In today’s market sellers are in fierce competition with one another for buyers. A seller can do everything right in presenting their home from maintenance and upkeep to staging, but if the price is not appropriate buyers will move on quickly. The simple truth is, there is another seller around the corner ready to set their Continue Reading →

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