St Louis HBA - St Louis Real Estate News

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 →

St Louis Area New Home Construction In 2018 Declines

By Dennis Norman, on January 25th, 2019

There were 4,140 building permits issued for new homes in the St Louis area during 2018, a decline of 3.16% from the year before when there were 4,275 permits issued, according to information just released by the Home Builders Association of St Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA). The number of permits issued for new homes during 2018 was just slightly down from 2016.

As the table below shows, St Charles County has seen the largest decline in new home construction with 1,499 new home permits issued in 2018, down 12.85% from the year before and decline of 24.48% Continue Reading →

New Home Construction Trend In St Louis Flat Overall

By Dennis Norman, on September 21st, 2018

There were 4,642 new home building permits issued for the 7 counties in the St Louis area covered by the St Louis HBA during the 12-month period ended August 31, 2018, just 2 more (0.04%) than the 4,640 that were issued during the prior 12-month period, according to data from the St Louis HBA.

This would indicate that perhaps the new home building market has peaked for the time being which, given that this is the best report for this 12-month period since August 2007 when there were 5,706 permits issued in the prior 12 months, it’s not bad.

St Continue Reading →

New Home Construction Activity Up Slightly In St Louis Area – St Charles County Losing Steam

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 →

New Home Construction In St Louis Losing Steam

By Dennis Norman, on March 17th, 2015

New home construction in St Louis has begun 2015 with a slower start than one might expect given the spring-like weather St Louis experienced during much of January and the flurry of activity we have seen thus far this year from home buyers. Permits issued in January for new homes in the St Louis Metro Area were down 7.85 percent from a year ago, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis. Continue Reading →

St Louis new home construction slips in August still up from a year ago

By Dennis Norman, on September 23rd, 2013

St Louis new home construction activity decreased in August 2013 with 311 building permits for new homes being issued in the St Louis metro area (the area served by the Home Builders Association of St Louis and Eastern Missouri) a 9.9 percent decrease from the month before and is an increase of 8.7 percent from August 2012 when there were 286 building permits issued for new homes, according to data published by the Home Builders Association of St Louis and Eastern Missouri.

St Louis home building is making some headway toward recovery by climbing out of the tough it hit Continue Reading →

St. Louis New Home Construction Up Over Fifty Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on March 19th, 2013

St. Louis New Home Construction Heating Up!

St. Louis new home construction activity continues to increase and is off to a good start for the year. There were 240 new home building permits issued in February in the St. Louis area*, just slightly ahead of January’s 239 permits. Year to date permits issued for 2013 is up 53 percent from the same time last year, according to the latest permit data available from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis and Eastern Missouri. For complete permit data click the link below:

St. Louis New Home Construction Permit Data February 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 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 →

St Louis new home construction and sales showing signs of life

By Dennis Norman, on September 27th, 2012

If you’ve been waiting to buy a new home thinking that prices will continue to fall as builders get more desperate to sell homes, I think you may have missed the boat, er, house. The bruised new home market continues to show signs that the worst is over including numbers just released showing new home sales in the U.S. in August were up almost 28 percent from a year ago and new home prices were up 17 percent during the same period in the U.S. Here in St. Louis, the St. Louis HBA just reported that building permits for new homes in St. Louis are 15% through August compared with this time last year. Continue Reading →

St Louis area new home building permits on pace to beat 2011

By Dennis Norman, on August 27th, 2012

St. Louis building permits issued for new homes continues on track to out perform 2011 in the largest counties in the area, according to a report just released by the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri. According to the report, the counties of St Louis, St. Charles and Jefferson have all seen more single-family building permits issued YTD (through July) in 2012 than in 2011, and Franklin county is only 2 permits shy of where they were in 2011 at the same time. Continue Reading →

St Louis home prices increase from last year while U.S. home prices fall

By Dennis Norman, on July 31st, 2012

St. Louis home prices are significantly outperforming other metro markets as evidenced by today’s release of the the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for May 2012 which showed both the 10-city and 20-city composites, increased by 2.2 percent from the month before while St Louis home prices (see chart below) increased 9.6 percent from the month before. On a year-over-year basis, both the 10-city and 20-city composites saw declines, 1.0 percent and 0.7 percent respectively while St. Louis home prices in May increased 3.4 percent from the year before. Continue Reading →

St. Louis area new home building permits up almost 30 percent from last year

By Dennis Norman, on July 30th, 2012

According to a report just released by the Home Builders Association of St. Louis (HBA), St Louis new home construction activity is on the rise! The HBA report shows that there have been 1,275 permits issued for new homes through June of this year in St. Louis City and St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin County which is an increase of 29 percent from last year at this time when there had been 989 total permits issued for new homes in the St. Louis area. Continue Reading →

Mortgage default rates fall back to May 2007 level

By Dennis Norman, on July 17th, 2012

More good news on the real estate market arrived this morning in the S&P/Experian report on credit defaults which revealed that mortgage default rates on first mortgages fell to 1.41 percent in June bringing it to it’s lowest level since May 2007. This is significant as this is the “leading indicator” for foreclosures which have hammered home prices for the past 5 years plus this represents a significant decline from when the mortgage default rate peaked at 5.67 percent in May 2009. Continue Reading →

St. Louis home prices falling; St Louis rents on the rise

By Dennis Norman, on July 3rd, 2012

A report just released by Trulia today which is based on the for-sale homes and rentals listed on Trulia, shows that asking prices for Saint Louis homes for sale decreased 2.4 percent from a year ago however Saint Louis rental rates increased 3.2 percent during the same period. Continue Reading →

St Louis area single-family building permits on the rise in March; on course to beat last year

By Dennis Norman, on April 23rd, 2012

The Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri just released their single family building permit data for March 2012 which shows an increase in activity from March 2011 for most of the St. Louis area. St. Louis City and County both saw declines in permit activity with 6 permits fewer issued total for the two than the year before, but this was more than made up for by St. Charles County increase of 38 permits which helped bring the total permits for the 7 St. Louis Counties covered by the HBA report to 260 for the month, an Continue Reading →

St Louis Area Single Family Building Permits Up over 12 Percent

By Dennis Norman, on December 8th, 2010

According to information released by the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (HBA), building permit activity in the St. Louis area through October of this year, is up over 12 percent from the same time last year.

Continue Reading →

Owning real estate within an IRA

By Jay Peroni, on November 11th, 2010

Can I own real estate within my IRA?

With investment property priced to move, some IRA owners are buying actual real estate properties. Did you know you could do that? Most people don’t. Not everyone can do it; not everyone should do it. However, some people are doing it – particularly high net worth IRA owners who see great deals in a buyer’s market.

Continue Reading →

St Louis Area New-Home Building Permits Drop In April After Spiking in March

By Dennis Norman, on June 1st, 2010

Dennis Norman

After seeing a spike in permits for new homes in St. Louis in March, with the exception of the City of St. Louis, all the St. Louis metro area counties saw a decline in new home permits in April, some rather steep based upon the latest data reported by the Home Builders Association of St. Louis (HBA).

Existing home sales data and mortgage application data have suggested that the April 30th deadline for the home-buyer tax credit caused an artificial surge in the housing market as buyers raced to beat the deadline to buy a home; Continue Reading →

No More Fixed-Rate Loans On New Homes If Missouri Lawmakers Don’t Act Quickly

By Dennis Norman, on May 11th, 2010

Dennis Norman

UPDATE – May 17, 2010 – THANKS TO MISSOURI LAWMAKERS (and the efforts of the Missouri Association of REALTORS and St. Louis Home Builders Association, readers of this post that responded, and others) THE MECHANICS LIEN LAW PASSED! ASSUMING THE GOVERNOR SIGNS IT INTO LAW FINANCING ON NEW HOMES AS WE KNOW IT HAS BEEN PRESERVED!

This week, which is the last week of the legislative session in Jefferson City, the Missouri Senate will probably take up debate on HB 2058, which is a bill that makes needed changes to the Mechanic’s Lien Statute in Missouri Continue Reading →

New home building permits in St. Louis down 10 percent from a year ago; Multi-family permits down 54 percent

By Dennis Norman, on December 10th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Not surprisingly, builders in St. Louis (those that have managed to survive thus far) are not racing out to build homes. According to the latest data reported by the Home Builders Association of St. Louis, there were 228 permits issued in October for new homes in the St. Louis metro area (St. Louis City and the Counties of St. Louis, Jefferson, St. Charles, Franklin, Lincoln and Warren) down almost 19 percent from September when there were 281 permits issued.

Year-to-date, through October 31, 2009, there have been 2,321 permits issued for new homes in the Continue Reading →

Mortgage information and advice from a St. Louis Mortgage Banker – Part 1 of a series

By Dennis Norman, on July 28th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

It seems home mortgages are in the news daily lately: record-low interest rates, record-high foreclosure rates, the sub-prime mortgage mess, lack of jumbo loans and so on. It’s confusing at best and causing much concern for many people wishing to buy a home or refinance their existing home mortgage.

H. John Frank, Jr., President Paramount Mortgage Co.

To find out just what is going on in the home mortgage world today I turned to someone I have known for over 20 years that is a highly respected St. Louis mortgage banker, Continue Reading →