St Louis Real Estate - St Louis Real Estate News

Over 30 percent of St. Louis homes for sale have had price cut

By Dennis Norman, on October 15th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Last week I did a post on another blog about a report that had just been released by Trulia indicating that over 25 percent of the homes listed for sale in the U.S. had experienced a price reduction in the 5-month period from June 1 through October 1st and that the average price reduction was about 10 percent.

In an effort to see how things here in St. Louis were stacking up to the national numbers from Trulia, I wanted to assemble the same data, for the same period that Trulia did and see how we Continue Reading →

The St. Louis Real Estate Market Bubble and Burst; St. Louis County hurt the worst in the area

By Dennis Norman, on October 13th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Statistics and reports are flying at us from every direction about the real estate market nowadays. Some reports say we have hit bottom, some even say the housing market has started a recovery others say worse times are ahead. Since I don’t think anyone can really tell us what the future has in store for the housing market I thought now may be a good time to look at history…at least short term history, to see where things stand at this point. Along the way we may see a trend or perhaps even feel like we Continue Reading →

St Louis home prices declined more in past year than national average

By Dennis Norman, on August 24th, 2009

Dennis Norman

According to a report issued by First American CoreLogic national home price declines continue to improve citing that national housing prices fell 7.8 percent in June 2009 compared to June 2008 representing the small est year-over-year decline recorded to date in 2009. This was a 0.7 percent improvement over Mays decline of 8.5% from the prior year. St. Louis did not fare quite as well in the CoreLogic report. The report shows St Louis home prices decreased 11.34% in June, 2009 compared to June 2008 and, opposite the national trend, represented a 1.43% larger decline than Mays Continue Reading →

What homes are selling in St. Louis?

By Dennis Norman, on August 17th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

Lately the news on the real estate market has been a little more optimistic and almost encouraging at times. Most of the news and stats are national or regional and, as I and others have said many, many times, all real estate is local. So what’s going on in the St. Louis market and more specifically, what is selling here?

In putting together stats for this post I included data from the following areas:

St. Louis City St. Louis County St. Charles County Jefferson County Franklin County Continue Reading →

Advice to sellers from a St. Louis REALTOR – final post in the series

By Dennis Norman, on August 13th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

We’ll pick up where we left off after parts one and two of this series about selling a home in this market:

Question- Now for the $64 question, how should a seller properly price their home in this market?

Answer- In today’s market sellers are in fierce competition with one another for buyers. A seller can do everything right in presenting their home from maintenance and upkeep to staging, but if the price is not appropriate buyers will move on quickly. The simple truth is, there is another seller around the corner ready to set their Continue Reading →

Advice to sellers from a St. Louis REALTOR – part two of a series

By Dennis Norman, on August 12th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

We’ll pick up where we left off in part one of this series about selling a home in this market:

Question- How should a seller select an agent? What should they look for in an agent and what should a seller avoid?

Answer- Years of experience is not as important as it once was. Certainly, the seller needs an agent with market knowledge, but the fact is today’s market is new territory for all REALTORS(R). I believe a seller in today’s market needs to be certain their REALTOR(R) has a firm grasp of marketing a property to Continue Reading →

St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R) Presidents’ view of the market – Final Post of the series

By Dennis Norman, on August 7th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Earlier this week I did part one , and yesterday part two of my E-View with Carole Baras, CRS, GRI, ePRO, the 2009 President of the St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R) to get her take on the St. Louis real estate market.

Today I’ll pick up where I left off and complete my E-View with Carole:

Carole Baras, 2009 President, St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R)

Dennis – Carole, What do you feel are the best opportunities today for buyers in St. Louis?

Carole – Buyers that are looking to purchase a Continue Reading →

St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R) Presidents’ view of the market – Second Post in a series

By Dennis Norman, on August 6th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Yesterday I did part one of my E-View with Carole Baras, CRS, GRI, ePRO, the 2009 President of the St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R) to get her take on the St. Louis real estate market.

Today I’ll pick up where I left off and complete my E-View with Carole:

Carole Baras, 2009 President, St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R)

Dennis – Carole, obviously many things are affecting the real estate market at this time, many in a negative way unfortunately. What negative forces do you see working against the St. Louis real Continue Reading →

St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R) Presidents’ view of the market – First Post in a series

By Dennis Norman, on August 5th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Last month I published 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. Now it’s time for the St. Louis side of the Missouri River.

To find out the status of the real estate market in St. Louis County, as well as the City of St. Louis, I turned to Carole Baras, CRS, GRI, ePRO, the 2009 President of the St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R) to get her take on the market.

Continue Reading →

Home sales and prices increase in Midwest in June

By Dennis Norman, on July 23rd, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The National Association of REALTORS(R) released its existing home sales report for June showing an increase in sales for the 3rd month in a row as well as higher prices in June.

Existing home sales, including single-family, town-homes, condominiums and co-ops increased 3.6% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units. This rate is almost identical to last years sales at the same time which is a first in a quite a while. May’s rate was down 3.6% from a year ago and June is down just 0.2% from a Continue Reading →

St. Charles County Association of REALTORS(R) Presidents’ view of the market – Final Post

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 Continue Reading →

St. Charles County Association of REALTORS(R) Presidents’ view of the market – Part two

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 Continue Reading →

St. Charles County Association of REALTORS(R) Presidents’ view of the market – Part 1

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 Continue Reading →

Report shows St. Louis metro prices to decrease by 2% in next 12 months

By Dennis Norman, on July 20th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

A report published by Local Market Monitor, Inc. predicts the St. Louis metro area will see real estate values decline 2% in the coming 12 months. This projection does not sound bad and would support the possibility that the market is leveling off and perhaps we have seen the bottom.

Local Market Monitor Graph – St. Louis Metro Area, Home Values Forecast vs. Actual

The report also states that in the St. Louis metro market jobs have fallen by 2.5% in the past year, compared with a drop of 4% nationwide. Continue Reading →