St Louis Real Estate Market Report for May 2023 with accurate data you can trust

Below is the St Louis Real Estate Market Report for May 2023 for the City and County of St Louis combined from St Louis Real Estate Search (the Official site).    You can access the full infographic, containing data for St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin Counties as well by clicking on the image below.

In this competitive market don’t make decisions based upon bad data!

Today’s real estate market is unforgiving for homebuyers, driven by a scarcity of inventory and robust buyer demand. This, coupled with not just bidding wars but “terms wars”, has made it challenging for many. In an effort to stand out, homebuyers are waiving contingencies from their offers and pushing their budgets to the limit. Quite often, these buyers are willing to pay more than the actual worth of the property. As I previously addressed in my article, “Are Homebuyers Today Grossly Overpaying for Homes and Making Decisions They’ll Regret?“, this approach is acceptable, provided it’s a well-informed decision.

To make such decisions, you need accurate data and an experienced, professional agent who can interpret that data and apply it to your unique situation. This is why I take immense pride in our team at MORE, REALTORS®. Our agents are skilled professionals who can guide both buyers and sellers through the intricacies of the current market to a successful outcome.

To support our agents and clients, I invest considerable time in gathering, scrutinizing, and reporting on market information and data. I aim to provide the most precise data possible to empower smart, informed decision-making. While it’s true that no data can be 100% accurate in all respects, getting as close to that ideal as possible improves the odds of making sound decisions.

Don’t all agents have the same data?  

It’s logical to think that all agents, especially those who are REALTORS®, have access to the same data. Indeed, in our area, all REALTORS® can access the most extensive and comprehensive source of information for the St Louis residential real estate market — MARIS, the REALTOR® Multiple Listing System (MLS). Yet, simply having access to this wealth of information is only the first step. It’s akin to the internet: while you can find nearly any information you seek online, the real challenge lies in knowing where to find it and determining the most accurate sources. The same principle applies to real estate market data available in the MLS.

While most agents aren’t data nerds and often depend on aggregated data provided by others, our agents, to some extent, do the same. However, a notable difference lies in their ability to define criteria and create their own reports for their clients using our proprietary software. Furthermore, they don’t simply accept the data we provide — they scrutinize it, cross-verify it, and highlight any errors they discover. This level of commitment, while humbling, is a testament to their dedication to accuracy, even when the data comes from a trusted source like our company.

Copy and Paste Culture Among Many Agents...

Contrary to the scrutiny that our agents apply to our data, many agents merely copy and paste infographics or reports they receive, without cross-checking the information. Take, for example, the infographic below showing the median sale price of homes in May 2023 for the city and county of St Louis combined as $255,000. Yet, numerous agents are sharing a report that states the median sale price for that market in May was $285,000. That’s nearly 12% higher than the actual figure, a discrepancy I deem significant. If you’re a buyer basing your offer, even partly, on market data, wouldn’t it be better to know the median price is actually $255,000 and not $285,000? Your next question might be, ‘How do you know your data is accurate?’ I’ve discussed this in detail in a previous article, which remains applicable today.”

Continue reading “St Louis Real Estate Market Report for May 2023 with accurate data you can trust

St Louis Foreclosures Increase 36 percent In May from prior month

Last month, there were 460 properties with foreclosure filings in the St Louis MSA, according to ATTOM Data’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.  This represents an increase of 36% in St Louis foreclosures from April 2023 to May 2023 and a 28% increase from a year ago.

Counties of Macoupin, St Charles and St Louis see biggest increases…

As the table below shows, Macoupin County in Illinois saw an increase of 113% in foreclosure activity in May from the month before, St Charles County a 71% increase and St Louis County a 67% Increase.

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St Louis Foreclosures – May 2023

St Louis Real Estate Market Report – April 2023

Below is our St Louis Real Estate Market Report for April 2023 for the City and County of St Louis combined.  You can access the full infographic, containing data for St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin Counties as well by clicking on the image below.

St Louis Real Estate Report for April 2023

(click on infographic for complete report including other counties)St Louis Real Estate Report for April 2023

St Louis Real Estate Market Report

Below is our St Louis Real Estate Market Report for March 2023 for the City and County of St Louis combined.  You can access the full infographic, containing data for St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin Counties as well by clicking on the image below.

St Louis Real Estate Report for March 2023

(click on infographic for complete report including other counties)St Louis Real Estate Report for March 2023

St Louis Area Home Sales Down Nearly 17 Percent In Past 12-Months

There were 28,500 homes sold in the St Louis 5-county core market during the 12-month period ended February, 28, 2023 a decline of 16.80% from the prior 12-months when 34,256 homes were sold according to MORE REALTORS® exclusive STL Market Report below.  As the report below shows, the median price of homes sold in St Louis increased 7.62% during the same period.

While the supply of St Louis homes for sale is still historically very low, it has increased significantly over the past two years rising from under a 1-month supply to the current 1.64 month supply of homes currently active on the market in St Louis.

St Louis 5-County Core STL Market Report

(for the 12-month period ended February 28, 2023)

t Louis 5-County Core STL Market Report 

St Louis Real Estate Market Report

Below is our St Louis Real Estate Market Report for February 2023 for the City and County of St Louis combined.  You can access the full infographic, containing data for St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin Counties as well by clicking on the image below.

St Louis Real Estate Report for February 2023

(click on infographic for complete report including other counties)St Louis Real Estate Report for February 2023

One in four St Louis city homeowners with a mortgage are underwater

Underwater Mortgage Photo

A new report just released by ATTOM Data revealed that nearly one of every four homeowners (24.3 %) in the city of St Louis that have a mortgage, are underwater on equity (meaning property owner owes at least 25% more on their home than the current value).  At the other end of the spectrum was St Charles County where just 3.9% of homeowners with a mortgage are underwater.

Below is a list of the larger counties in the St Louis MSA and the percentage of the mortgages in the respective county that was underwater during the 4th quarter of 2022:

  • City of St Louis, MO  (24.3%)
  • Saint Clair County, IL  (15.5%)
  • Madison County, IL  (13.4%)
  • Franklin County, MO  (10.5%)
  • St Louis County, MO  (9.7%)
  • Jefferson County, MO (8.1%)
  • St Charles County, MO (3.9%)

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Ten zip codes in St Louis with the highest percentage of equity-rich mortgages

According to data released by ATTOM Data Research, during the fourth quarter of 2022, 42.37% of the homeowners with a mortgage within the 63376 zip code, were “equity-rich” meaning their mortgage balance was just 50% or less of the current value of their home.   The table below shows the 10 St Louis zip codes with the highest percentage of equity-rich mortgages.  Half of zip codes on the list are located within the St Charles County, four in St Louis County and one in Jefferson County

Also shown on the table is the percentage of homeowners with a seriously-underwater mortgage, meaning their loan balance is 125% or more of the current home value.

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St Louis Seriously Equity-Rich Homeowners By Zip Code – Top 10 HighestSt Louis Seriously Equity-Rich Homeowners By Zip Code - Top 10 Highest

 

St Louis Area New Home Building Permits for 2022 at lowest level in seven years

There were 4,361 building permits issued for new single-family homes in the St Louis area during 2022, a decline of 9.62% from 2021 when there were 4,825 permits issued, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA).  As the table below shows, 4 of the 7 counties included in the report had a decline in the number of permits issued in 2022 from the year  before, with there of them double-digit declines.  Lincoln County saw the biggest drop percentage-wise with a decline of 38.27% followed by St Charles County at 21.8%.  All of the increases seen in the 3 remaining counties were single-digit increases with Franklin County the highest with an 8.36% increase.

As the chart below the table illustrates, 2022 saw the lowest number of building permits for new homes issued since 2015 when were there 4,200 issued.

Continue reading “St Louis Area New Home Building Permits for 2022 at lowest level in seven years

St Louis Real Estate Market Report For October 2022

Below is our St Louis Real Estate Market Report for October 2022 for the City and County of St Louis combined.  You can access the full infographic, containing data for St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin Counties as well by clicking on the image below.

St Louis Real Estate Report for October 2022

(click on infographic for complete report including other counties)St Louis Real Estate Report for October 2022

St Charles County Closed Home Sales In October Nearly 30 Percent Lower Than Last Year

As the tables below show, so far during October there have been 278 home sales closed in St Charles County, down 28% from the same period last year when there were 388 sales closed.  The median sold price this month for those closed sales in St Charles County has been $337,000 an increase of over 12 percent from the same period last year when the median prices homes in St Charles County sold for was 300.  Another bit of data which is illustrates the overbidding we’ve seen in the past that has quickly come to an end for the most part is that a year ago the St Charles County homes were selling for 102.32% of the listing price at the time of sale and for the closings this month it’s been 100% of the list price.  Granted, getting full price is a good thing it’s just seller’s were enjoying the bonus of overbids they were receiving before.

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St Charles County Closed Home Sales Oct 1, 2021 – Oct 24, 2021

(click on table for all current data)

St Charles County Closed Home Sales Oct 1, 2021 - Oct 24, 2021

St Charles County Closed Home Sales Oct 1, 2022 – Oct 24, 2022

(click on table for all current data)

St Charles County Closed Home Sales Oct 1, 2022 - Oct 24, 2022

Time On Market and Percentage of St Louis Listings With Reduced Prices Continues To Increase

As the infographic below illustrates, the time active listings in St Louis have been on the market is much greater than the time it took homes that closed last month to sell.  In addition, a much greater percentage of the current active listings have reduced their asking prices versus the sales that closed last month.

The most dramatic increase in days on the market was in St Charles County.   Active listings in St Charles County have been on the market a median time of 38 days, almost 5 times as long as the sales that closed in September where the median time on the market was just 8 days.  All 5 counties reported below saw the percentage of listings with a price reduction go up about the same, from twenty-something percent to forty-something percent.

Continue reading “Time On Market and Percentage of St Louis Listings With Reduced Prices Continues To Increase

Nearly Half The Active St Louis Listings Have Reduced The Asking Price

As the STL Real Estate Trends report below shows, as of last week, 43% of the active listings in the St Louis 5-County core market have a current asking price that is lower than the initial asking price.  This is more than a 100% increase from the same week last year when only 20% of the listings had a reduced asking price.

Franklin County saw the biggest increase in price reductions on listings  from last year with an increase from 14% to 47%.  Franklin County also has the highest percentage of active listings with a reduced price and St Charles County, at 38%, the lowest.

STL Real Estate Trends Report – Price Reductions

(click on report for most recent report)

STL Real Estate Trends Report - Price Reductions  St Louis 5-County Core Market

St Louis Real Estate Market Report For September 2022

Below is our St Louis Real Estate Market Report for September 2022 for the City and County of St Louis combined.  You can access the full infographic, containing data for St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin Counties as well by clicking on the image below.  Worth noting and remembering is not all data is created equally nor is all of what you see reported accurate.  Given the challenging and rapidly changing economic times we are in which are having an direct impact on the St Louis housing and real estate market, now, almost more than ever, you need to be sure the data you base your real estate decisions on is accurate and the agents you are trusting to get you through the process have the knowledge, information and accurate data they need to do so.  At MORE, REALTORS® we have developed proprietary software which uses the database we have created from the REALTOR® MLS (MARIS) to produce what we believe is the most accurate and relevant data and reports for the St Louis residential real estate market.  For example, currently, there are other sources reporting (and many, many real estate agents sharing the information without verifying) that the median price for homes sold in the City and County of St Louis during September was over 6% higher than our data shown below.  Think what an impact that could have on you if you base your decision to buy or sell a home on pricing data that is over stating the value.

Oh, how do we know we’re right?  We have proof, straight from the MLS, see the image below our infographic which is a screen shot straight from the MLS showing date for closed sales during the month of September in the city and county of St Louis.  You’ll find that the median price from the MLS is $250,000, the same as our data computed, the number of sales is a little higher in the MLS (20 or just over 1%) because while about 99% of sales are sent out in “feeds” to broker websites etc (including Zillow and Realtor.com) there are a few listings that are not and the DOM (days on market, or days to sell) at 10 is very close to our 12 (this is due to us using a slightly different method to compute median for the data).

St Louis Real Estate Report for September 2022

(click on infographic for complete report including other counties)
Continue reading “St Louis Real Estate Market Report For September 2022

Year To Date Home Sales in St Louis Metro Area Down Nearly 11 Percent From Last Year

There have been 21,164 homes sold in the St Louis Metro area during the first 7-months of this year which, as the STL Market Chart below illustrates, is a decline of 10.7% from the same time last year when there were 23,709 homes sold.

2022 home sales fairly consistent with 4 out of 5 prior years…

As I stated above, St Louis YTD home sales are lagging behind last year however, last years sales appear to be the market peak and the difference, as shown below,  between current YTD sales and the years prior to last year is not as significant.

  • Through July 2020, there were 21,344 homes sold in the St Louis MSA, less than 1% more than this year.
  • Through July 2019, there were 21,702 homes sold in the St Louis MSA,  2.5% more than this year.
  • Through July 2018, there were 22,095 homes sold in the St Louis MSA, 4.4% more than this year.
  • Through July 2017, there were 21,994 homes sold in the St Louis MSA, 3.9% more than this year.

St Louis slowing home sales trend appears to increasing….

Below the chart is our STL Market Report for the St Louis metro area, which shows there were 40,171 homes sold during the 12-month period ended July 31, 2022,  a decline of nearly 6.5% from the prior year.  This, in contrast to the double-digit decline noted above for the most recent 7-months of that 12-month period indicates that the slowing home sales trend is increasing.  We’ll get a lot more clearer picture of this in the next month or two as we see what happens in the economy, interest rates, etc.

Continue reading “Year To Date Home Sales in St Louis Metro Area Down Nearly 11 Percent From Last Year

Number Of New Homes Built In St Louis In Last 14 Years Less Than Half The Number For the Prior 14 Years

During the 14 year period prior to the housing bubble bursting in 2008, there were 92,065 building permits issued for new single family homes in the 3 most active home building counties in St Louis.  As the table shows below, over half the permits issued during that period were in St Charles County alone, with the other half in the counties of St Louis and Jefferson.

Needless to say, when the housing bubble burst in 2008 and the market collapsed, new home construction came to a screeching halt.  However, after about 5 years, the market quickly regained lost ground and for the past several years it seems home builders couldn’t build homes fast enough.  We’ve had a low inventory of homes for sale for so long it’s starting to seem normal.  But still, over 14 years have passed since the bubble burst and we are still way behind on new home construction.  In the 14-year period after the bubble burst, there have been 40.528 building permits issued for new single family homes in the St Louis area counties mentioned above, a decline of nearly 56% from the prior 14-year period.

St Louis New Home Building Permits -1994 through 2007 and 2008 through 2021

St Louis New Home Building Permits -1994 through 2007 and 2008 through 2021

 

How Much Will St Louis Home Prices Be Impacted By Inflation?

Yesterday, I wrote an article addressing the high rate of inflation just reported and its impact on the St Louis housing market. In it, I promised to take a deeper look into the effect of the current events related to the economy on St Louis home prices which I will do in this article.

Before I go further, I should mention I’m not an economist nor a fortune teller.  I am, however, a real estate broker and data nerd that has spent over 40 years in the St Louis real estate industry.  I try my best to use my knowledge and experience to anticipate changes in the market and use this to help our agents and clients use this information to their advantage.

History always repeats itself..

I find the above old adage to be pretty accurate when it comes to the real estate market.  Therefore, in trying to get my head around what impact a high inflation rate may have on home prices, I started by going back to prior periods of high inflation rates.

The first chart below shows the rate of inflation, interest rates, and the St Louis home price index.  I’ve made some notes on it to show prior inflationary periods and the effect on home prices. The first period, the early 80s was much worse than today as inflation was higher and interest rates were in the stratosphere hitting 18%.  The more recent period around 2007-2009 was not as severe and therefore the impact on home prices was not as dramatic as the former either.  As you can see on the far right side of the chart, home prices have increased in the past several months at a sharp rate with the change from a year ago being greater than the last inflationary period but not as great as the one from the early ’80s.

The next chart shows the relationship between home prices and rent.  When home prices outpace rent, home prices decline, when rent outpaces home prices, prices rise.  As the chart shows, these two lines have converged indicating a reasonable balance between home prices and rent.

During the period of 2007 – 2011 home prices fell over 17% during a four year period before finally bottoming out.

Today is different though…

Continue reading “How Much Will St Louis Home Prices Be Impacted By Inflation?

New Home Building Permits Decline In St Louis In Past 12-Months

There were 4,743 building permits issued for new single-family homes in the St Louis area during the 12-month period ended January 31, 2022, a decrease of 2.5% from the same period a year ago when there were 4,864 permits issued, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA).   Four of the seven counties covered in the report saw a decrease in building permits from the same period a year ago.  Warren, Lincoln, and St Charles County had a double-digit decrease.

St Louis New Home Building Permits -January  2022

 

St Louis Home Sales in 2021 Tops Year Before By Nearly 4 Percent – Prices Up Over 9 Percent

As the STL Market Report (available exclusively from MORE, REATLORS®) below illustrates, there were 30,197 homes sold in the St Louis 5-county core market during 2021, an increase of 3.86% from 2020 when there were 29,075 homes sold.  The median sales price of homes sold in the St Louis 5-county core market was $250,000 during 2021, an increase of 9.17% from 2020 when the median price of homes sold in St Louis was $229,000.  The 5-county core St Louis market is comprised of the city and county of St Louis, along with the counties of Jefferson, Franklin, and St Charles. The St Louis core market is responsible for over 7y0% of all homes sold in the 17-county St Louis MSA market.

Housing inventory remains low…

As the last row of the report shows, there is still just a 0.6 month supply of homes for sale in the St Louis 5-county core market and the median time on the market is 64 days.

Continue reading “St Louis Home Sales in 2021 Tops Year Before By Nearly 4 Percent – Prices Up Over 9 Percent

St Louis New Home Building Permits Increase Nearly 6 Percent In Past Year

There were 4,838 building permits issued for new single-family homes in the St Louis area during the 12-month period ended October 31, 2021, an increase of 2.98% from the same period a year ago when there were 4,698 permits issued, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA).   Four of the seven counties covered in the report saw an increase in building permits from the same period a year ago, three with a double-digit increase.  St Charles County continues to show a trend of a slight decline in permits with this period falling short of the 12-month period ended last month.

St Louis New Home Building Permits -October 2021

St Louis New Home Building Permits -October 2021

 

St Louis Home Price Appreciation Slowing

Even though you wouldn’t know it by today’s forecasted high in St Louis of 50 degrees, we are entering the winter housing market.  Every year, year after year, the St Louis winter housing market reacts pretty much the same way with home prices dropping a little and sales slowing followed by an uptick in both come spring.  With that in mind, the declines we see in home prices in the chart and report below, available exclusively from MORE, REALTORS®, could be attributed to the seasonal change but are a little early for that, and different than last year.

Sold home price per square foot declined for 2nd month in a row in November…

The price per foot a home sells for is a relatively accurate indicator of rising home prices and typically will decline in the winter months as I mentioned above.  However, if you look at the chart below, you will see the red line, which depicts the sold price per square foot of homes sold in the St Louis area, peaked in June at $172/foot, then dropped in July to $171/foot where it stayed though September before dropping to $165 in October and then remaining there in November.  The result was a 4.0% decline in the price per foot of homes sold in St Louis from the peak in June to October.

If you look at the same period last year, you will see the price per foot peaked in July at $152 than stayed at $152 until dropping to $151 in October, then up to $153 in November and back to $152 in December. So, least year, the change from the peak to November was actually a slight increase compared with this year’s decrease of 4.%.

I’m not saying last years price behavior was the norm, I’m just pointing out that this years price activity is different than last year so it may be indicative of a change in the market.

Current listing prices reflect slower price appreciation…

Below the chart is the STL Market Report for November which shows home sales in the St Louis 5-county core market were up nearly 6% for the 12-month period ended November 30th from a. year ago and prices were up over 10% during the same period.  However, if you look down to the second row of the report, you will see the price per foot homes sold at during the most recent 12-month period were sold at a price of $164.70 per foot (and in November as well) and the price per foot of homes currently listed is $168, so an increase of about 2% from the median price in the past 12-months. Granted, many of the current listings will likely sell for more than asking price, but this trend still indicates St Louis home price appreciation is slowing.

Continue reading “St Louis Home Price Appreciation Slowing

St Louis New Home Building Permits Increase Over 6 Percent In Past Year

There were 4,938 building permits issued for new single-family homes in the St Louis area during the 12-month period ended September 30, 2021, an increase of 6.38% from the same period a year ago when there were 4,642 permits issued, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA).   Five of the seven counties covered in the report saw an increase in building permits from the same period a year ago, three with a double-digit increase.  St Charles County continues to show a trend of a slight decline in permits with this period falling short of the 12-month period ended last month.

St Louis New Home Building Permits -September 2021

St Louis New Home Building Permits -September 2021

 

Over 40% Of The Luxury Homes Sold In St Louis In October Sold At or Above List Price

Yesterday, I shared data showing that two-thirds of the homes sold in the St Louis 5-County core market (St Louis city and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson, and Franklin) during October sold for the asking price or above.   Today, I wanted to focus on just the luxury home market to see how that compared with the overall market.  I included homes that sold for $750,000 or higher in this analysis.

As the infographic below shows (exclusively available from MORE, REALTORS®) there were 107 luxury homes sold (3.7% of all homes sold) during October in the St Louis 5-County core market with 41% of them selling at the list price or above.  Drilling down further, we see that 28% of the St Louis Luxury homes sold for greater than the list price.

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St. Louis luxury homes that sold at above list price October 20 21 infographic

Two-Thirds Of Homes Sold In St Louis Core Market In October Sold At Or Above List Price

Two-thirds of the homes sold in the St Louis 5-County core market (St Louis city and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson, and Franklin) during October sold for the asking price or above.  As the infographic below shows (exclusively available from MORE, REALTORS®) there were 2,888 homes sold during October in the St Louis 5-County core market with 65% of them selling at the list price or above.  One thing to remember about home prices though, and something you won’t hear from too many people reporting prices, is that not all sold prices are the “real” price.

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Continue reading “Two-Thirds Of Homes Sold In St Louis Core Market In October Sold At Or Above List Price

St Louis Area Housing Market Report For September

The St Louis housing market appears to be cooling off slightly with fewer home sales last month than a year ago in 3 of the 5 St Louis area counties that make up the St Louis 5-county core real estate market.  As the charts below illustrate, the decline in the overall St Louis market was very slight, with 3,164 homes sold last month just 11 sales fewer than September last year when there were 3,715 homes sold in the St Louis5-county core market.  The charts have complete details but below is a recap of home sales and prices by county for last month versus September 2020:

  • St Louis City & County – These two counties combined are the only in the core market to see an increase in sales last month from a year ago.  Last month there were 1,710 homes sold, an increase of 4.6% from a year ago when there were 1,634 homes sold.  Last month the median price of homes sold was $247,000 and increase of nearly 7.5% from last year when it was $229,900.
  • Franklin County – Last month there were 127 homes sold, a decrease of 13.6% from a year ago when there were 147 homes sold.  Last month the median price of homes sold was $227,050 and increase of nearly 14.5% from last year when it was $198,300.
  • Jefferson County – Last month there were345 homes sold, a decrease of 6.8% from a year ago when there were 370 homes sold.  Last month the median price of homes sold was $229,000 and increase of nearly 9.0% from last year when it was $210,000.
  • St Charles County – Last month there were 617 homes sold, a decrease of 10.8% from a year ago when there were 684 homes sold.  Last month the median price of homes sold was $303,000 and increase of nearly 12.2% from last year when it was $270,000.

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Continue reading “St Louis Area Housing Market Report For September

St Louis New Home Building Permits Increase In August In 6 of 7 Counties

There were 4,926 building permits issued for new single-family homes in the St Louis area during the 12-month period ended August 31, 2021, an increase of 6.44% from the same period a year ago when there were 4,628 permits issued, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA).   Six of the seven counties covered in the report saw an increase in building permits from the same period a year ago, half of them with a double-digit increase and the other half with a slight increase.  St Charles County saw new home permits fall by 1.18% from 1,777 permits to 1,756 permits during the period.

St Louis New Home Building Permits -August 2021

St Louis New Home Building Permits - August 2021

 

St Louis Home Sales Trend Remains Strong

More and more today I’m seeing reports in the media about the housing market cooling down and sales slowing which, quite frankly, I have expected and keep watching for signs of it in the St Louis real estate market.  However, in spite of a few blips on the radar, all the data I’m reviewing still shows pretty steady and consistent home sales in St Louis.  Don’t get me wrong, I fully expect us to see a cooling of the St Louis market if for no other reason, winter will be here soon and then we’ll be headed toward year-end when the market always cools down.  There are many factors that could come into play to further impact the market such as higher interest rates, a weaker economy as well as an influx of foreclosed homes hitting the market in the month ahead.  For all of this, we will have to wait and see, but for now, things are pretty steady.  Below are some charts and data that I feel support my thoughts on the market.

St Louis 5-County Core Market – Home Sales Trend

(click on chart for live, interactive chart)

St Louis 5-County Core Market - Home Sales Trend

As the chart above illustrates, the time it takes for a home to sell (days on market, represented by the brown line at the bottom) has been consistent the last four months, ranging from a low of 6 days to a high of 8 days.  The green line shows the 12-month home sales trend and it has been fairly consistent the last 4 months as well, actually increasing in June, then dipping slightly in July only to rise again in August to nearly June’s level.  Finally, the red line shows the median price per foot of the homes sold and that has also been consistent the last 4 months with a slight increase from $167/foot in May to $170 in June and then $171 in July and August.

St Louis Real Estate Trends Report

New Listings & New Sales  (click on report for live report)

St Louis Real Estate Trends Report St Louis Real Estate Trends Report

The above reports show that in the most recent week new contracts written for the sale of homes increased 29% from the week before and new listings increased 3% from the week before.  During the week there were just about the same number of new listings as new sales at 764 and 767 respectively.

St Louis Area Supply of Listing Inventory

 (click on report for live report)

St Louis Area Supply of Listing Inventory

The report above shows there is currently a 0.89 month supply of homes for sale in the St Louis 5-County market.  This is only slightly higher than it has been in past months. Of the 5-counties in the core market, St Charles County has the lowest inventory of homes for sale with an inventory of just over half a month.

St Louis Listing Supply Increases 50 Percent in July from June…still low

For the past couple of years now you’ve heard how low the inventory of homes for sale is, and, if you are a buyer, you have no doubt experienced some grief or hardship in buying a home as a result.  However, this may be changing.  As the table below shows, there are currently 3,565 active listings in the St Louis 5-county core market (city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) which based upon the rate of home sales, works out to a supply of 1.41 months. This is a 50% increase from the supply (inventory) from June of 0.94 months.  Granted, at 1.41 months, it is still VERY LOW from a historical perspective, but this is something to watch as it could be indicative of a change in the market.

What do the leading indicators show?

We don’t want to base too much on just one report for one month so to drill down a little further lets look at the STL Trends Reports, available exclusively from MORE, REALTORS®.  Below the table is the New Listings Trends Report which shows for the most recent week reported, new listings were up 23% from the same period a year ago.  There were 885 new listings in the St Louis 5-county core market during the week 7/18/21 – 7/24/21 as compared with 718 new listings for the same period last year.  On the other side of the deal, so to speak, as the New Contracts Trends Report shows, there were 890 new contracts written during that same week, a decline of 1% from the same period the year before.

Don’t sound the alarm yet..

As I’ve said, even with the increase in inventory it is still low and the trend reports are just for one week so we need to give it more time and watch the trend in the coming couple of weeks before we can determine that there is possibly a significant trend indicating a change in the market.  Stay tuned…

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Continue reading “St Louis Listing Supply Increases 50 Percent in July from June…still low

St Charles County Homes Sold For Largest Percentage Over List Price In June

As the chart below illustrates (available exclusively from MORE, REALTORS®), homes in St Charles County sold for a median price equal to nearly 105% of the current list price of the listing in June, which is the highest percentage of list price for the counties that make up the St Louis 5-county core market.  For the 9 months up to and including January of this year, 4 of the 5 counties all had a median sold price equal to 100% of the current list price with Franklin County averaging less.  In January St Charles county took off followed by Jefferson County, St Louis County and St Louis City all of which saw the median sold price exceed 100% of the current list price.  Franklin County made it up to 100% but has stayed there.

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St Louis Area Counties $ Of Current List Price Homes Sold For During Past 13 Months

(click on chart for live, interactive chart)

St Louis Area Counties $ Of Current List Price Homes Sold For During Past 13 Months

St Louis Home Sales And Prices Saw Double-Digit Increase In Past 12-Months

For the 12-month period ended May 31, 2021, there were 30,225 homes sold within the St Louis 5-County core market, an increase in home sales of 13.91% from the prior 12-month period, according to the STL Market Report below, available exclusively from MORE, REALTORS®.  During the same period, St Louis home prices increased 11.5% from a median of $213,000 to $237,500.  As the report also shows, the current supply of listings for sale is low at 0.86 months.

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STL Market Report For the St Louis 5-County Core Market

(click on report for live, complete report)

STL Market Report For the St Louis 5-County Core Market