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.
As the table below shows, over the past 6 years the city of St Louis population declined almost 2.5% while St Charles County grew by nearly 8.5%. Both St Charles County and Jefferson County have enjoyed annual growth in population since 2010 while Franklin County grew every year but one. St Louis County has followed a different pattern than the rest with 3 years of growth, a small decline in 2014, 2015 went back to 2013 levels nearly then 2016 gave up everything gained in the prior years falling back to a population lower than in 2010. St Louis city has continued to decline in population year after year for the periods shown.
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St Louis Population Trends 2010-2016
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.
Not to get into an economics lesson here (which I’m not qualified to teach anyway) but if homebuyers incomes increase at about the same rate as home prices (ditto for interest rates) then, more or less, the “affordability” of a home to a buyer remains the same. Problems arise when those things get out of whack, such as in the period from about 2000 through 2007 when home prices were increasing at a much higher rate than incomes were (and interest rates rose too making it even more fun) which eventually led to the housing bubble burst in 2008 and the real estate market crash.
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Continue reading “City of St Louis Has Best Home Affordability In St Louis Area“
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. As the table below shows, in the 5-county core St Louis market, there were 27,437 homes sold in the 12-month period ending May 31, 2017, an increase of 5.13% from the prior 12-month period when there were 26,099 homes sold.
Year-over-year for the month of May looks good as well…
As I frequently comment, looking at home prices and sales activity for a 12-month period is the best way to get a realistic view of the market, less affected by timing of sales due to weather, day of the week the last day of the month falls on etc, it’s still worth looking at the most recent month and comparing it to the prior month, as well as prior year, to help spot trends or changes in the trend. With this in mind, as the chart below shows, for the St Louis core market there were 3,070 homes sold in May, 2017, an increase of 21.2% from the month before when there were 2,533 homes sold, and an increase of just under 1% from May 2016 when there were 3,042 homes sold. As the chart also reveals, homes sold in St Louis during May, 2017 were sold for a median price of $185,000, an increase of 2.8% from the month before when the median sales price was $180,000 and a slight increase of just one-half of one-percent from May 2016 when the median price St Louis homes sold for was $184,000.
Franklin County has the largest increases in home prices and sales during past 12 months…
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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.
Condo prices have followed suit with St Charles County faring better than St Louis County during the past 10 years. The median price per square foot of condominiums sold in St Louis County declined 15% over the past 10 years from $123 per foot in 2007 to $105 per foot currently. St Charles County condo prices declined 7.9% during the same period, falling from $114 per foot in 2007 to $105 per foot currently. The bottom for condo prices, in both St Charles County and St Louis County, lagged slightly behind the bottom for home prices, not hitting bottom until 2012 at which time prices were $85 and $89 per foot respectively.
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Continue reading “St Charles County Home and Condo Prices Have Outperformed St Louis County Over Past 10 Years“
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.
As the table below shows, of the 7 counties in Missouri that are part of the St Louis MSA, 6 saw a decline in foreclosure rate from the quarter before and 5 of the 7 saw a decline from a year ago. The foreclosure rate in St Charles County during the 1st quarter increased 18.64 percent from the 1st quarter of 2016 and Franklin County saw a 43.4 percent increase in the foreclosure rate during the same period.
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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.
A common improvement, often considered by homeowners, particularly those in areas with a younger housing stock is a finished basement. A finished basement when done right, adds additional living space and/or recreational space to a home that sometimes may have deficiencies in those areas. But how much value does that finished basement add to your home? Of course, there are many variables that go into the answer to that question including the quality of the space finished, the type of space, location of the home as well as the size of the home, but we can use market data to get a general idea. I chose to go with St Charles County for this since the housing stock there is fairly young so the basements are, for the most part, modern, poured concrete basements, usually dry and often with adequate headroom to finish. In addition, many are walkout basements which is a plus for finishing. To try to keep this as an “apples to apples” comparison I chose only 3 and 4 bedroom homes that sold in the past 12 months.
Homes with finished basements sold for nearly 8 percent more…
As the tables below show, in my comparison, homes that had finished basements sold for a median price of $125 per foot and those with unfinished basements for $116 a foot, a difference of 7.8%. The homes with finished basements also sold faster too, selling in a median time of 14 days, less than two-thirds the time it took to sell a home with an unfinished basement which was 22 days (granted, both sold fast!). So, if we do the math and assume that the houses with finished basements, which had a median of 1,719 square feet without the basement (which happen to be smaller homes than those without), sold for the same price per foot as their counterparts with unfinished basements, then that would make the median sales price $199,404, or $11,596 lower, than it was.
As I mentioned above, there is a lot more that needs to be considered, but, as the data shows, there is definitely a return, both in price as well as time to sell, for having a finished basement, but certainly not enough to do it for just investment return reasons. However, if you are going to get enough benefit from the space for an adequate amount of time, it may end up making a lot of sense in the end.
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Continue reading “St Charles County Homes With Finished Basements Sell Faster and For More Per Foot“
By Dennis Norman, on September 19th, 2016 For some time now, home buyers wanting to buy a home in St Charles County have not had a lot of listings to choose from and have had to move fast. Based upon the current market data, I don’t see that situation changing, at least not in the near future.
As the chart below shows, home sales in St Charles county (the blue line) have been on the rise with the peak in spring/early summer this year topping the level hit last year and meanwhile, the time it is taking homes to sell (the black line) has been on the decline and hit the lowest level for the past few years in June of this year.
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Continue reading “St Charles County’s Strong Housing Market“
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.
Affordability is UP in St Louis county, not DOWN…
As the table below shows, home affordability in St Louis county has actually increased in the past year, not decreased as reported in the aforementioned article. For the purposes of my analysis, I used home sales data for “non-distressed” sales only, so not including foreclosures or short sales, to get a more accurate picture of the true market.
Affordability has improved in Jefferson County as well but, as the table below shows, has declined in the past year in the city of St Louis, Franklin county and St Charles county.
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Continue reading “Home Affordability Rises In St Louis County, Falls In St Charles County“
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.
St Charles County bucks the trend…
The table below shows foreclosure activity for the 15 major counties that make up the St Louis MSA, 7 of which are in Missouri and the other 8 in Illinois and, as the table reveals, St Charles County is bucking the trend and, even though foreclosure activity there rose 14.85 percent from the month before, it was down over 80 percent from a year ago and the 12-month rolling average was down 18.48 percent from a year ago.
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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 however, St Charles County, did make a “good” list! St Charles County was one of the 10 counties that made the list where, as the chart below shows, the percentage of monthly income needed to make the payment on a median priced home was less than 20% and the unemployment rate in May 2014 was less than 5%.
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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 Expensive Homes For Sale:
Continue reading “St Charles County Most Expensive Homes For Sale“
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 “St Charles County Most Expensive Homes For Sale – Slideshow“
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 “St Charles Scammer Pleads Guilty To Real Estate Scheme“
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 home price is $158,000 and the median rent is $1,232/month, or $14,784 for the year, resulting in a gross yield of 9.4%. At the top of the list is Wichita County, Texas with a gross yield of 13.4%. See the infographic below for all counties in the top 25 list.
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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 “New home permits up 47 percent in St Charles County and 25 percent in St Louis County in 2012; It’s all relative though…“
By Dennis Norman, on December 20th, 2012  This morning, the Commerce Department released its new home construction report showing that, on a national basis, all aspects of new home construction, permits, starts and completions, slipped slightly in November 2012 from the month before but were up from a year ago. The Home Builders Association’s new home report shows somewhat better results in St. Louis with permits in St. Louis county up almost 25 percent in November from a year before, nearly a 47 percent increase in St. Charles County, a 1.4 percent increase in Jefferson County and modest decreases in Franklin and Warren County. The city of St. Louis has been hit the hardest with over a 50 percent decline in new home construction from a year ago.
By Dennis Norman, on October 26th, 2009  Dennis Norman Last week I did a post after reading an article on StlToday.com about the change in property values being made by St Louis area assessors from 2007 to 2009. As I pointed out in my article I assumed the values shown by the assessors including ALL types of property and not just homes, however my analysis was based only upon the sale prices of homes.
Prior to doing the post I had requested just the residential data from the assessor’s office for the area counties but had not been able to obtain that data. Subsequently I did receive the information from the St. Charles County assessor and am happy to say I can now do comparison between the assessors values and home prices that is more “apples to apples”. Continue reading “St. Louis Real Estate – St. Charles County home price declines vs assessors property values; Update“
By Dennis Norman, on July 23rd, 2009 Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman
For the past two days I have written about my E-View with Karen Vennard, the 2009 President of the St. Charles County Association of REALTORS(R) to get her take on the real estate market in St. Charles County.
Today will be the final post in this series in which Karen has been shared her insights with us on the real estate market in St. Charles County. Now we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday:
 Karen Vennard, 2009 President, St. Charles County Association of REALTORS Dennis – We hear a lot about REO’s, foreclosures and short sales being a large part of the sales activity in many local markets. Do you know what percentage of the current activity in St. Charles County would be these types of sales? Also, please tell us how they affect your market.
Karen – I do not have the percentage of REO/Foreclosures/Short Sales nor can I say that they do not exist but St. Charles County has not been as adversely affected as some areas in the Metropolitan area by these types of sales. Some people can see that this is an opportunity for these “distressed” homes to be sold and brought back up to market value. I see this as a chance to revitalize neighborhoods that may have been affected by an increased number of foreclosures.
Dennis – What do you feel are the best opportunities today for home buyers in St. Charles county? Continue reading “St. Charles County Association of REALTORS(R) Presidents’ view of the market – Final Post“
By Dennis Norman, on July 22nd, 2009 Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman
Yesterday I began my E-View with Karen Vennard, the 2009 President of the St. Charles County Association of REALTORS(R) to get her take on the real estate market in St. Charles County.
Karen’s extensive knowledge of the market was apparent in her informative answers in yesterdays E-View. Now we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday:
Karen Vennard, 2009 President, St. Charles County Association of REALTORS Dennis – Where do you see the real estate market in St. Charles County at now?
Karen – I see the market recovering; there has been an increase in pending sales in St. Charles county over this time last year. That trend has been seen for the past 4 months now in the County.
Dennis – That’s encouraging news and also is fairly consistent with what I have seen in the metro market. Now, lets talk about home prices. People in most markets would be happy just to see some price stabilization and aren’t even talking about any appreciation in the near future. Has, or is, St. Charles County seeing any price stabilization at this point? Any idea when appreciation may come back into existence? Continue reading “St. Charles County Association of REALTORS(R) Presidents’ view of the market – Part two“
By Dennis Norman, on July 21st, 2009 Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman
According to the website for the Economic Development Center for St. Charles County, the county was established October 1, 1812. St. Charles County encompasses 561-square-miles of diverse landscape spreading out westward from the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.
According to the Census Bureau, in 1970 the population of St. Charles county was 92,954. By 2008 the population had grown to 349,307, an increase of over 275% in that 38 year period. During the same period St. Louis County had a modest increase in population of just over 4% growing from 951,671 to 991,830. The city of St. Louis saw a huge decline during the same period with the population dropping from 622,235 people to 354,361, losign over 43% of its population. Continue reading “St. Charles County Association of REALTORS(R) Presidents’ view of the market – Part 1“
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