By Dennis Norman, on January 21st, 2014 St Louis homes sales (the 5-county core market*) for 2013 increased from 24,134 for the 2012 to 26,979 for 2013, an increase of 12%, according to the latest data available from MORE, REALTORS. St Louis home prices rose in 2013 to a median sales price of $149,900 an increase of over 11% from 2012 when the median home price was $135,000.
For the past few months I have been saying that the St Louis real estate market is definitely in a recovery and the home sales data continue to support this notion.
(We work hard on this and sure would Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 14th, 2014
Recovery is underway!
Yes! St Louis home prices are on the rise and the St Louis real estate market is recovering! Find out why I feel this way and where the market is headed in my newly published 5 minute video update below.
Thinking of selling and want to know if your neighborhood is a seller’s market? Contact us and we’ll answer that question for you.
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By Dennis Norman, on January 6th, 2014 It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that home prices typically rise in the spring as the St Louis real estate market heats up however, it is more of a challenge to find those areas that may out perform the others. So, which St Louis neighborhoods are poised for a strong spring housing market?
As I wrote about earlier this week, a recovery of the St Louis real estate market is underway, however, some areas will fare better than others of course. For some home buyers the “investment” aspect of their next home is secondary as the school district, Continue Reading →
By Tyler Frank NMLS # 942420, on January 3rd, 2014 Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420
The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has made some changes for 2014, which took effect January 1 and affect FHA home loans. First and foremost, you will see a drop in the maximum allowable loan. In the St. Louis metro area, for example, the new max loan amount for a single-family home has been lowered to $271,050 from $281,250.
Other items of note regarding FHA have not changed; so as a refresher let’s look at FHA qualifications and rules:
Borrower must put 3.5% down based on sales price. 100% of the buyer’s contribution Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 2nd, 2014 It’s hard to believe that it has been over 5 years since the housing market bubble burst but, as we begin this new year, it is good to continue to see market data that supports a St Louis housing market recovery is underway!
As we have been reporting here on St Louis Real Estate News, over the past few months we have seen a solid recovery trend in the St Louis real estate market. Home prices have increased as have home sales, the new home market continues to make progress with new home construction and sales on the rise and Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 26th, 2013 After a 34 percent increase in October from the month before, Midwest new home sales gave back a chunk of the gain in November, falling 26.6 percent from October. New home sales in the midwest region of the U.S. in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 47,000 homes, down from a rate of 64,000 homes the month before however up slightly from a year ago in November when the rate of new home sales was 44,000 homes.
Looking at actual home sales and not “seasonally adjusted annual rates” we find that, through the end of November 2013, Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 20th, 2013 St Louis homes sales (the 5-county core market*) for the 12 month period ending November 30, 2013 increased 4 percent from the same period a year ago, in contrast to national home sales which are down 1.2 percent from a year ago. As the table below shows, St Louis distressed home sales (foreclosures, bank-owned and short sales) have declined by more than a third and are currently responsible for just 5 percent of the overall home sales.
St Louis home prices are increasing too with the median home price for the past year coming in at $149,600, an increase of Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 6th, 2013 “Short-sale” is a term that was relatively unknown until the real estate market bubble burst in 2008. After the bubble burst the term quickly became a common topic of conversation among homeowners that found themselves “underwater” in their homes, meaning they owed more on their homes than they were worth, and also among potential home buyers and investors looking to snag a good deal.
If you are one of those buyers wanting to snag a deal, you may have missed the boat as the volume of short sales in St Louis has fallen dramatically. While, overall, this is good news Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 4th, 2013 Midwest new home sales in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 63,000 homes, a 34.0 percent increase from September and an increase of 21.2 percent from a year ago, according to data just released by the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD. Nationally, new home sales in October were at an annual rate of 444,000 homes, an increase of 25.4 percent from the month before and an increase of 21.6 percent from a year ago.
New homes sold during the month of October 2013 were sold for a median price of $245,800, a decrease of 4.5 percent from Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 26th, 2013 St. Louis short sales accounted for just 1 percent of the overall home sales activity during October in the core market of St. Louis (the city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin), according to the latest data from RealtyTrac. As the table below shows, Jefferson County had the largest percentage of short sales in October at 7% and St Charles and Franklin both the lowest at 0%. REO sales (prior foreclosures that are now bank owned) on the other hand, made up 7 percent of St Louis area home sales in October, an Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 21st, 2013 St Louis luxury home sales (home sales of $1Mil or above) increased in the past 12 months almost 8 percent from the year with 182 homes being sold for $1 million or more in the St Louis core area (city of St Louis and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin). Luxury home sales in St Louis peaked between 11/06 and 11/07 when there were 268 homes sold. St Louis luxury home prices have not kept pace with sales with the average luxury home price declining for the past two years, however, thanks to increased sales, the Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 20th, 2013 St Louis homes sales (the 5-county core market*) increased slightly in October 2013 to 2,211 sales from 2,207 sales the month before. However, as the table below shows, a couple of key things worth noting are that October home sales increased 6.76 percent from October 2012 and, in October 2013, distressed sales (foreclosures, short sales, REO’s) accounted for just a little over 20% of total home sales, down from almost 31% a year ago.
St Louis home prices, as the chart below shows, have steadily risen in the past year from a median price of $130,000 in October 2012 to Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 19th, 2013 All 10 of the St Louis neighborhoods where homes are selling the quickest are found in St. Louis County, according to the latest data available from MORE, REALTORS. As the table below shows, the 63040 zip in Grover has the lowest median time homes for sale have been on the market at just 35 days.
The chart below the table shows the number of homes that were sold during October 2013 in each of these zip codes that made the top ten list for fastest selling St Louis neighborhoods. Ballwin saw the most home sales with almost 70 in the Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 4th, 2013 More than 1 of every 4 (28%) St Louis home sales in October was a cash sale, according to the latest data, according to MORE, REALTORS. This is the highest rate of cash sales in St. Louis since March 2013 when cash sales made up almost a third (31%) of St Louis home sales.
There were 2,438 homes sold in St Louis in October 2013, an increase of almost 19 percent from a year ago.
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By Dennis Norman, on October 31st, 2013 I decided to take a look at the age of homes in the St Louis area and determine if older homes in St Louis sell for lower prices than newer homes. My idea to do this was prompted by a report RealtyTrac published this morning revealing that 71 percent of the homes in the U.S. were built before 1990 and that there was less demand for these older homes thereby making prices more affordable than on their newer counterparts.
My research shows that the city of St Louis and St Louis county have a larger percent of older (pre-1990) housing Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 24th, 2013 Cash Home Buyers in St Louis were responsible for 50 percent of the home sales in September 2013 in the St Louis Metro area, according to a new report just released today by RealtyTrac. The report showed that state-wide, cash buyers accounted for 48 percent of home sales in Missouri during the month. As the table below shows (a St Louis Real Estate News Exclusive), in the city of St Louis 69 percent of the home sales in September were cash sales.
Cash sales are often associated with investors and, as the table shows, there is no lack of investor Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 9th, 2013 Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), cautioned today that, given the fact the U.S. Government spends one dollar for every 75 -80 cents it takes in, if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, the government will have to decide where to cut its spending. Should the government choose not to pay its interest obligations, “we can expect interest rates on Treasury bonds to rise…and if that happens, mortgage rates will rise, because mortgage rates follow Treasury rates.”
Yun went on to say that if mortgage interest rates do rise we can expect home sales to drop Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 8th, 2013
It’s a fickle market…
The government shut-down and economy that is, at best, somewhat unstable, continues to keep home buyers somewhat timid. As the data shows in our just-released 5 minute market update, St Louis home prices and St Louis home sales have both increased in the past year, but the market is fairly fragile at this point.
Thinking of selling and want to know if your neighborhood is a seller’s market? Contact us and we’ll answer that question for you.
You can now subscribe to our ITUNES Podcast Channel to receive our updated market videos via podcast automatically Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 3rd, 2013
Agency relationships between a buyer or seller of a home and the real estate agent are probably one of the most confusing aspects of the real estate transaction for consumers and for many real estate agents as well for that matter. Dual agency takes the confusion to a whole new level though for the parties involved as the issue gets quite complex. At the very basic level, dual agency exists when the same real estate agent represents both the buyer and seller in the same real estate transaction (a bad idea in my humble opinion). At a more complicated Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 26th, 2013
Just over 1 of every 4 (26%) St Louis home sales (5-county core area) in August 2013 were cash purchases, according to MORE, REALTORS. This is the highest rate of cash sales in St. Louis since April 2013 and is the highest number of total home sales for a one month period in over 4 years!
The average home price on cash sales in August was $116,724 and the average home price on all home sales for the month was $187,978.
On the national level, almost half of the homes sold (45%) in August 2013 were cash purchases, according Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 25th, 2013 New home sales in the midwest in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 61,000 homes, a 19.6 percent increase from July and an increase of 15.1 percent from a year ago, according to data just released by the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD. On a national level, new home sales in August were at the annual rate of 421,000 homes, a 7.9 percent increase from the month before and a 12.6 percent increase from a year ago.
New homes sold during the month of August 2013 were sold for a median price of $254,600, a slight decrease Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 6th, 2013
Nearly one of every 4 St Louis homeowners with a mortgage are seriously underwater, meaning their mortgage exceeds the current value of their home by 25 percent or more, according to a report just released by RealtyTrac. As the table below shows, the city of St. Louis has the highest percentage of seriously underwater homeowners at 31 percent and Franklin county the lowest at 14 percent. In addition, there are another 104,000 St Louis homeowners in a “near-equity” or “resurfacing equity” position, meaning their loan equals 90 to 110 percent of the current value of their home. As long Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 4th, 2013
St Louis home sales, for the 12 month period ending August 31, 2013, increased 13.9 percent from the same period a year before. In the five county area that makes up the bulk of the St Louis real estate market (city of St Louis and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) there were 26,436 homes sold during the period, up from 23,208 the year before.
Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 29th, 2013
In July 2013 just a little over 1 of every 5 (22 percent) St Louis homes* that were sold were cash purchases, marking the lowest rate of cash sales since June 2010, according to MORE, REALTORS. On the national level, 2 of every 5 (40 percent) homes sold during July were cash purchases, according to a report released this morning from RealtyTrac.
The total number of homes sold in St Louis* in July was 2,731, a slight increase from June’s 2,672 sales and a 17 percent increase from July 2012 when there were 2,326 homes sold in the St Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 18th, 2013 This past week, Andy Van Slyke sold his Ladue Manse at 710 S. Price for $3,200,000 after being listed for sale for just 48 days, albeit at a sales price of just 80% of the asking price of $3,975,000. Andy and wife, Lauri built this french-inspired mansion in 2001 with with over 6,000 square feet of living area (with an additional 3,000 square feet in the lower level) situated on 1.8 acres of well-manicured grounds and including all the features you would expect in this price range such as exquisite architectural design, high-end finishes, a pool but also has features Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 16th, 2013
Bidding wars for homes in St Louis cooled in July as the number of home sales where the final sales price exceeded the list price at the time of sale was 14.7 percent of all home sales in the St Louis 5-county core area (City of St Louis and Counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin), according to the latest data from MORE, REALTORS. This is down 8.7 percent from June, when 16.1 percent of the homes sold in St Louis were sold at a price in excess of the list price. Nationally, in July almost half Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 9th, 2013
It’s a seller’s market in 60 St Louis Neighborhoods!
That’s right, according to the latest market data from MORE, REALTORS. 60 St Louis neighborhoods are experiencing a seller’s market while only 8 have a buyer’s market. Which ones you ask? Invest 5 minutes of your time watching my market up date video below and you will find out!
Thinking of selling and want to know if your neighborhood is a seller’s market? Contact us and we’ll answer that question for you.
Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 30th, 2013
The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) reported that it’s pending home sales index for June slipped to 110.9 from the six-year high it hit in May at 111.3 as home sales slowed as a result of increasing home prices and interest rates. Even though home sales declined in June, the index was still 10.9 percent higher than it was a year ago when it was at 100. It just so happens, “100” in the index equals sales activity during the year 2001, which was the first year for NAR’s pending home sales index. NAR’s forecast calls for existing home Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 25th, 2013
St Louis distressed home sales have fallen substantially in the past year with distressed home sales in June making up less than 1 in 5 home sales (18.3 percent) for the 5 county core area of the St Louis MO market (St Louis City and County, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin Counties), according to the latest data from MORE, REALTORS. REO sales (bank and government-owned properties) accounted for just 15.8 percent of St Louis home sales in June (5 county core), down from 22.6 percent in June 2012. Short sales (where sellers sell for less than they owe) accounted Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 24th, 2013 New home sales soared in June to an annual rate of 497,000 homes, the highest level in 5 years, according to data just released by the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD. New homes were sold in June at a rate that is 8.3 percent higher than the month before and 38.1 percent higher than June 2012 when new homes were sold at the rate of 360,000 homes a year.
New homes sold in the month of June 2013 were sold for a median price of $249,700, a decrease of 5 percent from the month before and an increase of 7.3 Continue Reading →
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