By Dennis Norman, on April 11th, 2018 New home construction, based upon building permits issued, is up overall for the 7-county area covered in St Louis by the Home Builders Association of St Louis and Eastern Missouri (HBA). For the most recent 12-month period reported for this area, through the end of February 2018, there have been 4,720 single family permits issue versus 4,579 for the prior 12-month period, an increase of 3.08%.
As the table below shows, 5 of the 7 counties reported on by the HBA have seen double-digit increases in new home construction during the past 12-months, Lincoln County and St Charles County being Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 24th, 2018 Home prices in the St Louis 5-County core market increased 3.67 percent in the 12-month period ending February 28, 2018 to a median price of $186,500 from $179,900 for the prior 12-month period. During the same period, home sales in the St Louis 5-County core market increased 1.89% to 27,839 homes sold from 27,323 homes sold during the prior 12-month period.
As our table below shows, there were 1,489 homes sold during February 2018, and are currenlty 4,921 homes listed for sale, computing into a 3.3 month supply of homes for sale, continuing to favor sellers due to the low Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 23rd, 2018 New home construction in the St Louis area is off to a good start for 2018 with a total of 326 building permits for new homes being issued during January for the 7-county St Louis area reported on by the Home Builders Association of Eastern Missouri. This permit activity in January represents an 11% increase over the activity in January 2017 when there were 293 new home permits issued. During the month of January 2018, 4 of 7 counties saw an increase in building permits from January 2017 (Jefferson County +26%, Franklin County +143%, Warren County +1%, St Louis City Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 21st, 2018 Located at 13570 St Charles Rock Road in Bridgeton Missouri is a 200-acre landfill known as the West Laek Landfill Superfund site which has been the center of controversy and a source of frequent headlines over the past few years. The reason it has garnered so much attention is becuase of health concerns related to radioactive waste at the site. The source of the radioactive waste goes back to 1973 when soil that was mixed iwth leached barium sulfate was used to cover the landfill. The radioactive waste came from a nearby storage and processing facility located at 9200 Latty Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 31st, 2017 Home sales and home prices in St Charles County during the 12-month period ending November 30, 2017, are trending in opposite directions. Home sales in St Charles County have, as the chart below reveals, declined 5.7% from 6,155 home sales for the 12 month period ended November 30, 2016 to 5,806 home sales for the period ended November 30, 2017. The median price per foot for homes sold during these same periods however have increased 2.4% from $127 per foot for the period ended November 2016 to $130 per foot for the period ended November 30, 2017.
St Charles County Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 24th, 2017 Ok, everyone knows Black Friday is a huge shopping day, historically the largest shopping day of the year, but is it a big day to shop for a home as well? Well, based on our data from last year, maybe not so much. As our tables show below, while there were 35 homes and condos sold in the core St Louis market (the city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) that was just over half as many as were sold the Friday before, and the Friday after, Black Friday. So, it appears on Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 30th, 2017 Over the past couple of years, as the St Louis real estate market has continued performing well, mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures have continued to decline. Rising home value has also caused the number of “underwater” homeowners, also known as homeowners in a negative-equity position (meaning their mortgage balance exceeds their homes current value) to decline as well. As the table below shows, 5 of the seven St Louis area counties listed saw a decline in the number of underwater properties in the 3rd quarter of this year from a year ago. The largest decline in underwater properties was St Charles Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 28th, 2017 New home construction in the St Louis and surrounding areas for the first three quarters of this year is up slightly from the same time last year, according to the latest permit data from the Home Builders Association of Greater St Louis. However, as the table below shows, only 4 of the 7 counties reviewed had an increase in building permits while the other three, including the county with the greatest number of building permits, St Charles County, saw a decline.
St Louis Area New Home Building Permits – Year to Date Through September 30, 2017
(We work Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 22nd, 2017 Over the past 20 years, there have been 2.75 times more homes sold in St Louis County (250,486) than St Charles County (90,933). Given that the population in St Louis County at the beginning of this period was 4 times that of St Charles County and, even today is nearly 2.6 times more, St Charles County has definitely held it’s own in the housing market.
St Louis County dominates the $1mil+ home market…
St Charles County may be keeping up with St Louis county in the overall housing market, however, when we look at the luxury home market, homes selling Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 6th, 2017 St Charles County had the biggest improvement in the housing affordability index during the 3rd quarter of this year of any major County in the state of Missouri, according to a newly released report from Attom Data Solutions. St Charles County, with an affordability index of 109 (above 100 is more affordable than historic average, below 100 is less affordable), saw a 6.5% improvement in housing affordability from the prior quarter but a 2.4% decline from a year ago when the housing affordability index for St Charles County was 112.
The table below shows the housing affordability index for all Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 19th, 2017 For the 12-month period ending August 31, 2017, as the table below shows, there were 36,753 homes sold in the St Louis MSA an increase in home sales of 3.68% from the prior 12-month period. The median price of homes sold in the St Louis MSA during the past 12 months was $170,000, an increase in home prices of 2.92% from the prior 12 month period.
St Louis home sales and price summary by county (see tables below for details):
St Louis City and County Home Sales Up 5.18% Home Prices Up 3.31% St Charles County Home Sales Up 3.07% Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 8th, 2017 As we approach the fall season (officially referred to as “autumn”, it begins September 22nd) and the temperatures cool, St Louis home prices and sales are beginning to cool as well. There’s no reason for panic as this is normal due to the “seasonality” of the real estate market, however, we in the real estate business never like to see it arrive.
As the tables below for the St Louis MSA, as well as the counties that make up the St Louis real estate market, show, the St Louis real estate market as a whole, is now a “cooling seller’s Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 21st, 2017 For the 12-month period ending July 31, 2017, as the table below shows, there were 36,741 homes sold in the St Louis MSA an increase in home sales of 13.35% from the prior 12-month period. The median price of homes sold in the St Louis MSA during the past 12 months was $170,000, an increase in home prices of 3.66% from the prior 12 month period.
St LouisHome sales and price summary by county (see tables below for details):
St Louis City and County Home sales Up 6.06% Home prices Up 4.79% St Charles County Home sales Up 4.43% Home Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 18th, 2017 For the 12-month period ending June 20, 2017, as the table below shows, there were 36,447 homes sold in the St Louis MSA an increase of 2.08% from the prior 12-month period. The median price of homes sold in the St Louis MSA during the past 12 months was $169,000, an increase of 4.0% from the prior 12 month period. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 6th, 2017 Below is a 10-year chart, showing the median price per foot (one of the most accurate ways to look at home prices) for each of the 5-counties that make up the St Louis core-market. As the chart reveals, there doesn’t necessarily seem to be any correlation between home appreciation and population shift. Below is a quick analysis: Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 5th, 2017 Recently, the U.S. Census Bureau released the 2016 population estimates revealing that the city of St Louis continues to lose residents while outlying counties like St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin grow and St Louis county remains relatively stagnant. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 4th, 2017 It’s good when the value of your home increases, right? Yes, generally, most homeowners, look at their homes as an investment in addition to shelter for their families so they are generally happy to see the value of their investment increase. The flip side of it is, homebuyers, particularly first-time buyers, would, of course, like to see lower prices and better value in the home they buy. The thing that helps balance out these competing interests is inflation, but more specifically, the rate of income growth. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 22nd, 2017 St Louis continues to enjoy a pretty robust real estate market, albeit it a challenging one for buyers due to the low inventory of homes for sale in most areas, with St Louis home sales, during the past 12 months, up over 5 percent from the prior 12-month period and St Louis home prices up over 5 percent for the same period as well. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 30th, 2017 The median price per square foot of homes sold in St Louis County have increased 3.5% over the past 10 years, from $116 per foot in 2007 to $120 per foot currently. As the chart below illustrates, home prices dipped to a low of $90 per foot in 2011, a result of the housing bubble burst in 2008. During the same period, the price per foot of homes sold in St Charles County increased 5.1% from $117 per foot in 2007 to $123 per foot currently. Like St Louis County, St Charles County saw home prices bottom out in 2011, hitting a low of $95 per foot. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 13th, 2017 During the first quarter of 2017, the foreclosure rate in the St Louis metro area was one in every 487 housing units, a decline of 19.59 percent from the quarter before, and a decline of 3.61 percent from a year ago, according to a report released today by Attom Data. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 4th, 2017 When considering making an improvement to their home, homeowners often look at it from both the enjoyment value it will give them and their family as well as the investment value of what they are doing. Granted, there are few, if any improvements, you can make to a home that will give you a 100% return on investment, meaning that, for every dollar you spend, your homes value will go up by a dollar, but there are certainly some improvements that come closer than others. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 19th, 2016 For some time now, if you are a home buyer wanting to buy a home in St Charles County, you didn’t have a lot to choose from and had to move fast when you did find a home and, for at least the near future, it doesn’t appear this will change. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 27th, 2016 A recent article by STL Today indicated that home affordability in St Louis had fallen, specifically noting that affordability in St Louis County had fallen below historic “norms”. As is always the case with stats, it depends upon which data you are taking into account and the accuracy of the data. I decided to take a look at the data and see if my data showed the same result as the STL Today article. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 16th, 2015 Foreclosure activity, after an extended downward trend, has trended upward lately in the St Louis metro area and October was no exception seeing an increase of over 13 percent (13.17%) in activity from the month before and, on a 12-month rolling average, an increase of almost 30 percent (29.85%) from a year ago, according to the latest data from RealtyTrac. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 7th, 2014 Today, RealtyTrac released a new report which revealed that, as of the 2nd quarter of 2014, affordable housing is on the decline in one-third of the largest counties in the U.S. In compiling the report, the historical average for income to price affordability percentages were analyzed and the results showed that one-third of the counties analyzed now have higher affordability percentages than their historical average now making homes in those counties less affordable now than they have been on average over the past 14 years. On the positive side, no St Louis area counties were on that list Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 9th, 2013
In the thirty year period from 1980 to 2010 the number of housing units in St Charles county tripled from 49,523 units to 141,016 units. St Charles’ growth has been fueled in part by an abundance of affordable new homes but that doesn’t mean St Charles county doesn’t have it’s share of luxury homes though! According to the latest housing data from the US Census Bureau, about 3 percent of the housing units in St Charles, or about 3,300 units, are valued at $500,000 or above.
Below is a slide show revealing St Charles County Most Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 22nd, 2013
St Charles county’s most expensive homes for sale can be found from Augusta in the southern part of the county to Wentzville in the north, from Foristell to the city of St Charles and come in all shapes and sizes. The live, real-time, slide show below shows the variety of million dollar plus homes currently for sale in St Charles county.
Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 27th, 2013 Daniela Spiridon, a 42 year-old woman from St. Charles, pled guilty yesterday to six felony counts of wire fraud related to a scheme she operated out of an office in Chesterfield, according to a report from the FBI. According to the indictment Spiridon was charged under, she operated her business out of an office at 18118a Chesterfield Airport Road, in Chesterfield, MO under several business names, including A&AD Investments, LLC; CDRS ESC Investments, a.k.a. CDRS ESC and CDRS LLC.
Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 20th, 2013
St. Charles county is a “hidden gem” for real estate investors wishing to buy rental property, according to RealtyTrac’s newly published “List of Top 25 Hidden Gem Single Family Rental Markets“. St. Charles County was the only Missouri county that made the list and it came in at 21 on the list with a gross yield on rental property of 9.4 percent. The gross yield is determined by taking the annual median rent for a county and divide it by the median price of home in that county. In the case of St Charles county, the median Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 12th, 2013 It’s funny what you can do with stats….without any dishonesty (well, maybe a little deception) you can use statistics to paint just about any picture (or create any headline) you want. For example, we all know the new home market in St Louis, like the rest of the country, has suffered tremendously since 2006 (perhaps I know this better than many) and it is improving but sometimes the media I think paints a picture that does not always convey the big picture. For example, lets look at the following statements about building permit data for new homes in St Louis, all of which are based upon the same data from the HBA and all of which are true statements: Continue Reading →
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