St Louis Home Sales - St Louis Real Estate News

St Louis Area Home Price Appreciation Tops 5 Percent In Past Year

By Dennis Norman, on October 23rd, 2019

The median price of homes sold in the St Louis 5-County Core Market during the past 12-months was $205,000, an increase of 5.13% from the prior 12-month period when the median price was $195,000. As the STL Market Report (an exclusive report available only from MORE, REALTORS®) shows, home sales declined nearly 3 percent during the same period and the inventory remains low with a listing supply of just 2.53 months.

As the STL Market Chart at the bottom illustrates (also exclusively available only from MORE, REALTORS®), home prices in the St Louis 5-County Core Market have had the normal, Continue Reading →

St Charles County Home Sales Trend Falls Back To Early 2016 Levels

By Dennis Norman, on October 23rd, 2019

There were 5,755 homes sold in St Charles County in the 12-month period ending September 30, 2019, a decline of 5.2% from a year ago when there were 6,070 homes sold in the prior 12-months. This is the lowest 12-month trend since February 2016 when there were 5,676 homes sold in the prior 12-months.

As the chart below illustrates, even with the declining trend in home sales in St Charles County, it is still significantly higher than back in 2014 and 2015.

Lack of listings in St Charles could be part of the problem…

As the STL Market Report for Continue Reading →

St Louis Is Number One Market For Flipping Homes

By Dennis Norman, on October 15th, 2019

St Louis is the top marketing for flipping homes, according to an article published yesterday on Realtor.com. It’s not all just flipping activity however in the article a very notable and credible St Louis industry source (unabashed self-promotion) stated that “flipping is more common in homes in the $175,000-plus range, while many of those listed for $125,000 and less are being turned into rentals, says Norman.”

The Realtor.com article gave an overview of the market data I produced for them so I wanted to share the market data behind the overview.

St Louis Neighborhoods With Large Investor Presence:

63137 Zip Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales Continue Downward Trend

By Dennis Norman, on October 11th, 2019

Home sales in the St Louis 5-County Core Market for the 12-month period ended September 30th, 2019 were down just over 3% from the same period a year ago. During the same period, home prices in the St Louis 5-County Core market increased a little over 5% as the report below from MORE, REALTORS shows.

Inventory of homes for sale still favors sellers…

As the report shows, there is just a 2.44 month supply of homes for sale in the St Louis core market which means the St Louis market is still very much a seller’s market.

Search St Louis Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales Trend In September Down 3 Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on October 5th, 2019

For the 12-month period ended September 30, 2019, there were 26,775 homes sold in the St Louis 5-County core market, down 3.2% from the same period a year ago, according to the latest data from MORE, REALTORS. As the chart below illustrates, home sales in St Louis have, for the most part, been trending downward since peaking in May 2018 with 27,830 homes sold in the 12-month period ending that month.

Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES St Louis Home Sales Trend – Past 5 Years

(click chart for live chart)

Continue Reading →

What Impact Does The School District Have On Home Prices and Sales?

By Dennis Norman, on September 27th, 2019

The question in my headline is one of those questions that in the real estate community, and with most homeowners, would elicit a response something like “the quality of the school district has a major impact on the housing market, duh!”. While I don’t think anyone would argue that having quality public education available to everyone in all areas is important, I’m just talking data here and looking at it from the real estate perspective. So, with that in mind, I decided to use one of the reports produced by proprietary software created by MORE, REALTORS® and based upon MLS Continue Reading →

St Charles County Home Sales Trend Drops To 2015 Level

By Dennis Norman, on September 8th, 2019

Yesterday, I shared information showing the home sales trend for the 5-county core St Louis housing market declined 3% but today am going to drill down a little further into the data. I wanted to look at the home sales trend in the 5 individual counties that make up the core market to see which are performing better or worse than the others.

All 5 counties had a decline in their home sales trend in August that was similar to the 5-County Core market, however, the extent of the change varied somewhat. St Charles County’s home sales trend, as our Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales Trend Falls In August

By Dennis Norman, on September 7th, 2019

For the 5-county core St Louis housing market, there were 26.047 homes sold during the 12-month period ended August 31, 2019, a decline of 3% from the 12-month trend for the prior month. As the chart (a proprietary product developed by MORE, REALTORS to help keep its agents and clients on top of market conditions) below shows, there were 27,753 homes sold during the 12-month period ended August 31st of 2018, so the current period sales of 26,047 homes represents a 6.1% decrease from the same period a year ago.

Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – August 2019 – Dirt Cheap Interest Rates

By Dennis Norman, on August 23rd, 2019

The St Louis real estate market is still going strong and interest rates are dirt cheap! Not much has changed over the past few months in the St Louis housing market in terms of home prices and sales, prices continue to rise at normal, healthy rates and sales continue along at a rate a little shy of last year. What has changed dramaticaly over the past 9 or 10 months however, are interest rates. The have dropped by a third and in this months market update video I do a little math and show just how much that impacts home Continue Reading →

The Jefferson County Zip Code With The Hottest Real Estate Market

By Dennis Norman, on August 3rd, 2019

Yesterday I identified the Zip Code in St Charles County with the hottest real estate market so today I’ll do the same for Jefferson County. I’ll save the long explanation I gave yesterday though about the importance of not looking at just one piece of data, how it takes a qualified agent with good data to really determine the health of a market, etc. If you missed that, you can get it in yesterdays article.

What is the hottest market in Jefferson County today?

Based upon some of the data contained in the charts and tables below, I would have Continue Reading →

The St Charles County Zip Code With The Hottest Real Estate Market

By Dennis Norman, on August 2nd, 2019

Which Zip Code in St Charles County is home to the hottest real estate market today? Well, it depends…

63376 based upon the zip code where homes are selling the fastest 63376 based upon where the inventory of homes for sale is the lowest 63367 based upon trending home sales 63341 based upon home price increases over the past year

I could go on, but the point I wanted to illustrate here is that there is no one piece of data, or one list or chart that is going to accurately depict what the “best” market is, or even the Continue Reading →

Inventory of Homes For Sale is 1-Month or Less In Top 10 Sellers Markets In St Louis

By Dennis Norman, on July 27th, 2019

The St Louis housing market has been low on inventory of homes for sale in many areas and many price ranges for the past couple of years. Even as the summer market is down to the last few weeks, we still find the market short on listings in many markets. With the inventory of homes for sale low, the market definitely favors sellers.

Our firm publishes a list showing the current inventory of homes for sale (in terms of months supply based upon the most recent sales trend) and below I show the top 10 St Louis area zip codes Continue Reading →

YTD Home Sales Continue To Remain Below Prior Years But Downward Trend Slowing

By Dennis Norman, on July 12th, 2019

Year to date, through the end of June, there were 12,814 homes sold in the St Louis 5-County Core market, a decline of 4.3% from this time last year when 13,389 homes had sold. This marks the lowest YTD home sales through June since June 2015, when there were 12,110 homes sold. As the second chart below illustrates, the St Louis home sales trend (trailing 12 months and represented by the dark green line) peaked in October 2018 with 26,032 homes sold in the prior 12 months but then stalled and has begun a slight downward trend which continues with Continue Reading →

St Louis County Assessor Increased Property Values Four Times More Than Market Data Supports

By Dennis Norman, on June 26th, 2019

This year is a reassessment year for real property in Missouri, so assessors throughout the state are going to update the property values that tax assessments are based upon. According to state law, the value should reflect the value of the property as of January 1, 2019. Reassessment is done every two years, so the prior reassessment was in 2017. Given that the real estate market has been performing well now for the past several years, and property values are increasing, it’s not surprising that most property owners will see an increase in their assessment from the 2017 value to Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales Continue Downward Trend – YTD Home Sales Lowest In 4 Years

By Dennis Norman, on June 15th, 2019

Year to date, through the end of May, there were 9,929 homes sold in the St Louis 5-County Core market, a decline of 5.2% from this time last year when 10,477 homes had sold. This marks the lowest YTD home sales through May since May 2015, when there were 9,262 homes sold. As the second chart below illustrates, the St Louis home sales trend (trailing 12 months and represented by the dark green line) peaked in October 2018 with 26,032 homes sold in the prior 12 months but then stalled and has begun a slight downward trend which continues with Continue Reading →

St Louis Year To Date Home Sales Off To Slowest Start In 4 Years

By Dennis Norman, on May 23rd, 2019

Home sales in St Louis through the end of April this year, are lower than they have been at the same time of year since 2015. As our exclusive year-to-date sales chart for the St Louis 5-County Core Market below shows, there have been 7,101 homes sold YTD this year (through 4/30) which is down 5.7% from the same time last year when there were 7,529 homes sold. The last time year-to-date home sales were lower at this time of year than now was back in 2015 when there were just 6,727 homes sold.

Search St Louis Homes For Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – May 2019 – Still A Sellers Market!

By Dennis Norman, on May 16th, 2019

The number of home sales in St Louis may be down from the recent past but it’s still a Seller’s market! The lack of home sales in St Louis is certainly not a result of a lack of interest, on the part of home buyers, but more a lack of sellers. This is clear in the data I presented in this months market update video. Find out more, as well as get information on some of St Louis’s best resources for home buyers and sellers in our just-released market update video.

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New Home Construction Trending Downward in Over Half The St Louis Area Counties

By Dennis Norman, on April 24th, 2019

For the 12-month period ended March 31, 2019, there were building permits issued for 748 new homes in St Louis County, a decline of 23.60% from the prior 12-month period, according to the latest data from the St Louis HBA. As the table below shows, St Charles County saw a decline of 11.23% during the same period. Last month, those were the only two counties showing a downward trend, but, this month, Franklin County and the City of St Louis have also seen new home construction trend downward. Warren County again showed the greatest upward trend in new home construction Continue Reading →

How Many Real Estate Agents Are There And How To Find a Good One?

By Dennis Norman, on April 23rd, 2019

According to the latest estimates by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), there are approximately 2 million licensed real estate agents in the United States. Last year, according to the NAR, there were a total of 5.341 million existing homes sold which equates to one agent for every 2.67 homes sold during the year in the U.S. Wow, talk about competition! Granted, not all licensed agents sell residential real estate as many focus us on commercial real estate, including industrial, retail, office, multi-family, and land, and others focus on farms, large tracts of land, recreational property, etc. Nonetheless, there is Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sale Trend Continues To Slow….Rising Price Trend Remains

By Dennis Norman, on April 18th, 2019

Year to date, through the end of March, there have been 4,829 homes sold in the St Louis 5-County Core market, a decline of 6.3% from this time last year when 5,156 homes had sold. As the second chart below illustrates, the St Louis home sales trend (trailing 12 months and represented by the dark green line) peaked in October 2018 with 26,032 homes sold in the prior 12 months but then stalled and has begun a slight downward trend since with 25,583 homes sold in the 12 month period ending in March 2019.

Meanwhile, St Louis home prices continue Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – April 2019 – Sales Pace Off From Last Year

By Dennis Norman, on April 12th, 2019

Home sales in St Louis are on a slower pace than this time last year. The St Louis real estate market is still performing well, but just not at the same sales rate as last year thus far. Find out more, as well as get information on some of St Louis’s best resources for home buyers and sellers in our just-released market update video.

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Should you buy a new home directly from the builder?

By Dennis Norman, on March 25th, 2019

Some new home buyers believe that if they buy a new home directly from the builder or the builder’s sales person, they will get a better price. But is this true? Do you get a better deal buying a new home directly from the builder?

First, we should address a “better deal” and what constitutes a good “deal”. If it is strictly price, then, while I think it is somewhat short-sided on the part of the buyer and falls in that “penny-wise, dollar-foolish” category, in some instances, with some builders, the builder will save some cost by you buying from Continue Reading →

Who Pays The Buyers Agent?

By Dennis Norman, on March 22nd, 2019

I saw an article recently about the results of a survey done of home sellers that found that nearly half of them didn’t realize they pay the buyers’ agent commission when they sell their home.

Sellers pay the buyers’ agent in almost all home sales in St Louis…

While I don’t know for sure, I would guess that the people surveyed were homeowners that planned to sell their homes, rather than sellers that already had their homes listed for sale. I say this because the standard listing agreement used by St Louis REALTORS® spells out the total commission being charged Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sale Trend Slowing Slightly

By Dennis Norman, on March 19th, 2019

Year to date, there have been 2,903 homes sold in the St Louis 5-County Core market, a decline of 3.6% from this time last year when 3,010 homes had sold. As the second chart below illustrates, the St Louis home sales trend (trailing 12 months and represented by the dark green line) peaked in October 2018 with 26,032 homes sold in the prior 12 months but then stalled and has begun a slight downward trend since with 25,756 homes sold in the 12 month period ending in February 2019.

Meanwhile, St Louis home prices continue to rise with the median Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – March 2019 – Sales off pace from last year

By Dennis Norman, on March 14th, 2019

The St Louis real estate market is still doing well however, home sales are off to a slower start this year than last year. Find out more, as well as get information on some of St Louis’s best resources for home buyers and sellers in our just-released market update video.

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St Charles County vs St Louis County Home Price Appreciation

By Dennis Norman, on March 8th, 2019

Since the announcement of the Better Together plans to merge the County and City of St Louis together into one big “Metro City”, there has been a lot of talk about the impact this would have on the St Louis real estate market. I’ve had several conversations with people in the real estate industry that feel St Charles County, as well as some of the other surrounding counties, will benefit if the Better Together plan succeeds. Their optimism is based upon the belief that, given what appears to be a tremendous groundswell of opposition to the plan from residents of Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales Down Slightly, Prices Up, In Past 12 Months

By Dennis Norman, on March 7th, 2019

For the 12-month period ended February 28, 2019, there were 37,427 homes sold in the St Louis metro area, a decline of 1.22% from the prior 12-month period when there were 37,889 homes sold, according to our STL Market Report below. During the same period, the median price of homes sold in the St Louis metro area increased by 4.11% from $172,900 to $180,000. As the table shows, there is currently a 3.19 month supply of homes for sale in the St Louis metro area.

Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES Continue Reading →

St Louis New Home Construction Continues To Decline

By Dennis Norman, on February 27th, 2019

There were 4,471 building permits issued for new homes in the St Louis area during the 12-month period ended January 31, 2019, a decline of 5.20% from the prior 12-month period when there were 4,716 permits issued, according to information just released by the Home Builders Association of St Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA).

As the table below shows, St Charles County continues to see the largest decline in new home construction with 1,489 new home permits issued in the most recent 12-month period, down 13.03% from the prior 12 month period. Four counties in the St Louis Continue Reading →

Is The St Louis Housing Inventory Down 25 Percent Or Up 10 Percent? The Importance Of Understanding The Data.

By Dennis Norman, on February 23rd, 2019

I promise not to turn this article into one of my boring, lengthy diatribes that only a data nerd could enjoy, however, I do want to discuss something that I think is very important for all home buyers, sellers and investors. Given that today there is a plethora of “data” and “information” available to us thanks, in large part, to the internet, and that home buyer, sellers, and investors (as well as the real estate agents working with them) make decisions based, at least in part, to those things, it is imperative to know you have the right data and Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales Trend Remains Flat – 2019 Outlook Remains Good

By Dennis Norman, on February 22nd, 2019

The real estate market in St Louis continues to do well although the home sales trend, as our chart below illustrates, has flatlined over the past year. On our chart, we plot the home sales for the prior 12 months for each month thereby making it easier to see trends in the marketplace. As you can see, over the past 5 years, the trend line consistently increased from about this time 5 years until about a year ago where it leveled off. This is not surprising as it is not realistic for our market in St Louis to be able Continue Reading →