New Sales Of Listings Continue To Outpace New Listings

Even with the high rate of inflation, rising interest rates and general unrest in the economy, during the past two weeks there were more new contracts written on listings than there were new listings.  According to the STL Real Estate Trends Report, exclusively available from MORE, REALTORS®,  during the last two weeks there were 1,496 new contracts accepted on listings in the St Louis 5-County core market while there were 1,432 new listings during the same period.   While there were only 4.5% more sales than listings, given the fact we are already in a low-inventory market, this is fairly significant.

STL Real Estate Trends Report

(click on report for current report)

STL Real Estate Trends Report STL Real Estate Trends Report

 

St Louis Real Estate Market Trend For February Down From Last Year

The St Louis real estate market has slowed a little in February thus far.  As the Local Market Trends reports (availably exclusively from MORE, REALTORS® ) show, new contracts written on listings as well as new listings in St Louis 5-County Core market, were down in each of the first two weeks of February both from the prior week as well as from the same period a year ago.

New contracts written (new sales):

As the reports below show, there were 590 new contracts written (new sales)  on homes during the 2nd week of February which was 13% fewer contracts than were written the same week a year ago and  7% fewer than the prior week.

New listings:

As the reports below illustrate, there were 537 new listings of homes during the 2nd week of February which was 9% fewer new listings than during the same period a year ago and 8% fewer new listings than the prior week.

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Local Market Trends – New contracts written on homes

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Local Market Trends - New contracts written on homes  Local Market Trends - New contracts written on homes 

Local Market Trends – New listings

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Local Market Trends - New listings Local Market Trends - New listings

Home Sales Trend In St Louis 5-County Core Market Falls To Lowest Level In Over 3 Years

After peaking in May 2018 with 27,829 homes sold in the prior 12-months, the St Louis home sales trend has trended downward to 26,830 homes sold in the 12-month period ended November 30, 2019.  This marks the lowest home sales trend for the St Louis 5-County core market in over three years.

In spite of this statistical fact, it should be noted that the difference in home sales for the 12-month period ended November 30, 2019, from the same period a year ago, is just under 3%, so it is a pretty modest decline.

St Louis 5-County Core Market Home Sales Trend – Past 5 Years

(Click on chart for live, interactive chart)

St Louis 5-County Core Market Home Sales Trend - Past 5 Years

St Louis Home Sales Trending Upward Slightly

After peaking in May 2018 with 27,829 homes sold in the prior 12-months, the St Louis home sales trend has trended downward until hitting 26,852 homes sold in the 12-month period ended August 31, 2019.  However, for the two months since this low, St Louis home sales have trended upward slightly, reaching 26,888 homes sold in the 12-month period ended October 31, 2019.

St Louis 5-County Core Market Home Sales Trend – Past 5 Years

St Louis 5-County Core Market Home Sales Trend - Past 5 Years

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

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 25,433 homes sold in the 12 month period ending in May 2019.

Meanwhile, St Louis home prices continue to rise with the median price of homes sold in the past 12 months in the 5-County Core market increasing 5.21% from the prior 12-month period.  As the table below the charts shows, the median price of homes sold in the St Louis 5-County Core market during the most recent 12-month period was $199,900, an increase from $190,000 during the prior 12-month period.

The inventory of homes for sale has declined even further from last month, with just s 1.81 month supply of homes for sale in the St Louis 5-County Core Market.  The low inventory is the key reason behind the lower home sales as there just aren’t enough homes for sale to satisfy the current home buyer demand.

Would-be home sellers are afraid to list their homes…

The low supply of homes for sale, coupled with the high demand, has many homeowners reluctant to list their homes for sale for fear they will sell but won’t be able to find a home to buy.  This is why we developed our “Guaranteed No Sale” program, something that protects sellers from becoming “homeless”.  It allows a seller to list their home with the confidence they won’t be obligated to sell if they are not successful in finding a home to buy.  You can find out more at GuaranteedNoSale.com.

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