St Louis Real Estate - St Louis Real Estate News

St Louis MSA Property Taxes For 2019 Was At Same Effective Rate as 3 Years Ago

By Dennis Norman, on April 9th, 2020

The average property tax amount in 2019 for a residential property was $2,840, according to the latest data released from ATTOM Data Research. Based upon the average estimated home value for the St Louis MSA of $211,816, this works out to an effective property tax rate of 1.34% which is slightly less than last year’s effective rate of 1.36% and is the same as the rate of 1.34% in 2016.

St Louis MSA Effective Property Tax Rates – 2016 – 2019

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St Charles County Home Sales Down Just 25 Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on April 8th, 2020

Yesterday, I shared data showing that, in spite of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, new sales of residential listings in the 5-county core St Louis market for the most recent 7-day period that complete data is available for, were down 35% from a year ago. I received requests to break the data down further so I did so by county. As the table below shows, for the 7-day period ended April 2nd, new sales of listings in St Charles County were down just 25% from the prior year. The reason the period ends April 2nd is REALTORS® has 3 business days Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales Continue In Spite of COVID-19 Albeit at a lower level

By Dennis Norman, on April 7th, 2020

As the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic continues to keep many of us confined to our homes unless we need to go out for an essential service which, fortunately, the department of Homeland Security includes real estate in the definition, it is, of course, taking its toll on the St Louis real estate market. As would be expected during a time like this, would-be homebuyers who have had their jobs or businesses impacted as a result of COVID-19 have pulled out of the market for now as have some folks who were considering a move purely for convenience or some other reason Continue Reading →

Special Report (Video) – The Impact of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) on the St Louis Real Estate Market

By Dennis Norman, on March 30th, 2020

I’ve written several articles over the past couple of weeks about the impact the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is having on the St Louis real estate market. Hopefully, it has been of some benefit to people that either already had their homes on the market, were in the market to buy or considering buying or selling. Yesterday, I took all of the most recent information and updates that I think people in those situations will find useful and packed it all into a short, 4-minute, video special report on the impact of COVID-19 on the St Louis Real Estate Market.

You Continue Reading →

New Listings In St Louis During Past 7 Days Down Just 25 Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on March 28th, 2020

St Louis sellers appear to remain pretty confident in the St Louis real estate market in spite of the COVID-19 threat as evidenced by the number of new residential listings that hit the St Louis market in the past 7 days. During the past 7 days, there were 701 new residential listings on the St Louis 5-County Core Market (city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) this is a decline of just 25% from the same period last year when there were 943 listings. For the St Louis MSA, there were 930 new Continue Reading →

New Sales Of Residential Listings In St Louis In Past 7 Days Down Just 14 Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on March 25th, 2020

As all of us continue to deal with a much different lifestyle as a result of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) I am closely monitoring the St Louis real estate market to help get the most accurate information possible to our agents, clients, and consumers to help them make informed decisions about their real estate transactions.

With this in mind, I took a look at new contracts on listings for the past 7 days, so in other words, homes that actually went under contract during the period, but this time, I wanted to drill down deeper than I did a few Continue Reading →

Over Sixteen Hundred Listings Went Under Contract In Past Week In St Louis area MLS

By Dennis Norman, on March 21st, 2020

As I mentioned in my article yesterday about the effect of the coronavirus on the St Louis real estate market, for those homebuyers in a position to buy a home, there will be some good opportunities presented. Apparently, there are buyers out there that perhaps feel the same way or, they at least are not uncomfortable with buying now as, in the past 7 days, 1,670 listings in MARIS, the regional MLS that serves the St Louis area as well as some additional areas outside the metro area, went under contract. When pulling data from our database for this, I Continue Reading →

The Effect of Coronavirus (COVID-19) On The St Louis Real Estate Market

By Dennis Norman, on March 20th, 2020

While we deal with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic practicing social-distancing, shutting down events, public gatherings and the like, we are still trying to go on with our lives at the same time. A big challenge to this is the unknown; not knowing how bad things will get, how long we may have to live like this, etc. Fortunately, for those of us in Missouri, at the time I’m writing this, we have just 41 confirmed cases putting Missouri at number 40 of the 50 states in terms of the number of cases. Granted, once more people are tested, our position Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – March 2020 – 2020 off to a better start than last year…so far

By Dennis Norman, on March 14th, 2020

The St Louis real estate market is off to a great start for 2020! Home sales year to date has outpaced sales from the same time a year ago and everything points to 2020 being a good year for real estate! The $64 question is, however, what effect the Coronavirus may have on the market. Only time will tell, but my thoughts are that while there will no doubt be some negative impact on the St Louis housing market as a result of Coronavirus (COVID-19) its impact will be much less than what we have seen of late in the Continue Reading →

St Louis House Flips Increase In 4th Quarter of 2019

By Dennis Norman, on March 5th, 2020

There were 737 homes “flipped” in the St Louis metro area during the fourth quarter of 2019, or 7.2% of the total number of homes sold in the St Louis metro area during the quarter, according to data just released by ATTOM Data Solutions. This is an increase of 9% from the prior quarter and is a decrease of 6% from a year ago. The median gross profit was 64.450 a 71% gross ROI and a significant increase from a year ago when the Gross ROI was 54.1%.

Definition of a “flipped” home…

For the purposes of this report, a Continue Reading →

St Louis’ Fastest Selling Zip Codes

By Dennis Norman, on February 29th, 2020

It may still be winter, which most people know is the “slow-season” for real estate, however, there are still plenty of areas in St Louis where homes are selling fast! Below is the list of the fastest-selling zip codes (only available from MORE, REALTORS on their St Louis Real Estate Search® site, which reveals the 63144 zip code in St Louis county as the fastest-selling zip with an average time of just 21 days on the market for active listings. The second zip on the list, and just a day behind the average for the Brentwood area of 63144, si Continue Reading →

Ten Years Later…Update On The Homeowner Sentenced To Jail For Yard Art (Updated Photos Too)

By Dennis Norman, on February 26th, 2020

Nearly ten years ago I first wrote about the owner of a property in Ballwin that was sentenced to 20 days in jail after he had refused to make changes to the art displayed in his yard that officials for the city of Ballwin had deemed to be dangerous. The property owner, Lewis Greenberg, had decorated his home and filled his yard with a variety of items he referred to as “art” that was to make a statement about the Holocaust.

After hearing of this back in May 2010, I decided to check out his home at 977 Morena Court, Continue Reading →

Ferguson’s Housing Market Six Years Later

By Dennis Norman, on February 19th, 2020

It’s been over six years since the shooting of Michael Brown brought riots to the streets of Ferguson and national attention on the small north county municipality. The end result was quite devastating to businesses and the community as a whole and many predicted Ferguson’s demise.

One year later, I did an analysis of the impact on the housing market in an article on St Louis Real Estate News in which I revealed market data showing that while the results were somewhat mixed, the housing market in Ferguson didn’t really appear to have been too negatively impacted at the time.

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St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – February 2020 – Home Sales Trend Going Into 2020 Looking Good

By Dennis Norman, on February 12th, 2020

The St Louis real estate market is off to a good start for 2020! The home sales trends going into this year are encouraging and, coupled with the strong economy we are in, has me very confident that 2020 is going to be a great year for the St Louis real estate market! MORE buying power! In addition, long term mortgage interest rates just dropped again giving buyers more buying power! See the example in my video of just how much less a home will cost you today payment-wise than 14 months ago, even after appreciation has pushed prices up. Continue Reading →

St Louis’ Core Market Home Sales Ends 2019 Slightly Ahead of 2018

By Dennis Norman, on February 3rd, 2020

Throughout 2019 St Louis home sales were running slightly behind the prior year and looked like that is how the year would end but, thanks to a strong finish, St Louis home sales for 2019 ended up being slightly higher than the year before. As the report below shows, the 5-county core St Louis real estate market (without distressed sales) ended 2019 with 25,946 home sales, up 0.71% from the year before when there we 25,674 homes sold. The median price of homes sold during 2019 (non-distressed) was $215,000, an increase fo 4.88% from the year before when the median Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – January 2020 – The market finished 2019 strong!

By Dennis Norman, on January 17th, 2020

The St Louis real estate market had a strong finish in 2019! One of the many great things for the St Louis housing market about a strong finish in 2019 is that 2020 begins strongly as well! January will be a key month in terms of whether the trend will continue or whether December’s uptick was an isolated event. Another encouraging thing about the real estate market is that long term mortgage interest rates remain low! See in the video just how powerful this is! How a house today will actually cost you less than a little over a year Continue Reading →

In 2019 St Louis Had The 8th Highest Foreclosure Rate of The 20 Largest MSA’s

By Dennis Norman, on January 16th, 2020

Foreclosure rates and mortgage delinquency rates have steadily declined over the past couple of years as the housing market, as well as the overall economy, have both continued to improve and thrive. Nonetheless, foreclosures still take place and during 2019 the St Louis MSA had the 8th highest foreclosure rate of the 20 largest MSAs, according to the latest data released by Attom Data Solutions.

As the table below shows, during 2019, in the St Louis MSA there was 1 foreclosure action for every 232 housing units. Philadelphia, PA, had the highest foreclosure rate of the 20-largest MSAs with one Continue Reading →

Happy New Year!

By Dennis Norman, on January 1st, 2020

The outlook for the St Louis real estate market for the new year looks pretty good. Watch for the release of our St Louis Housing Market Forecast for 2020 coming out in the next few days to get some insight into this year’s real estate market here in St Louis.

Happy New Year!

Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES Continue Reading →

St Louis House Flips Continue To Decline

By Dennis Norman, on December 12th, 2019

There were 762 homes “flipped” in the St Louis metro area during the third quarter of 2019, or 6.3% of the total number of homes sold in the St Louis metro area during the quarter, according to data just released by ATTOM Data Solutions. This is a decline of 15% from the prior quarter as well as a 5% decrease from the prior year. As our table below shows, on a national level, house flipping accounted for just 5.4% of the homes sold during the 3rd quarter of this year, which is a 9% decrease from the quarter before and Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – December 2019 – No Better Time To Buy!

By Dennis Norman, on December 9th, 2019

Between low, low-interest rates and the seasonally low home prices, there is no better time to buy a home! Just like every year, home prices are declining and will continue to decline over the next few weeks until they hit their “winter bottom” and then start the climb back to spring prices. All the while, mortgage interest rates remain low, giving you more buying power than a year ago, even at the higher home prices! Find out more, as well as get information on some of St Louis’s best resources for home buyers and sellers in our just-released market update Continue Reading →

Cyber Monday Real Estate Deals?

By Dennis Norman, on December 2nd, 2019

Are you one of those people like me that didn’t go out and fight the crowds on Black Friday in search of deals and instead waited until today to catch the Cyber Monday deals online from the comfort of your home or office? Or perhaps you were out Friday shopping and now you are back at it online? In any event, don’t forget that Cyber Monday deals come 7 days a week this time of the year in real estate! That’s right! Like I discussed here on Black Friday, some of the best deals of the year on St Louis Continue Reading →

Black Friday Shopping? Buy a house and save a bunch of money!

By Dennis Norman, on November 29th, 2019

As you get ready to head to the stores today for all those Black Friday bargains, perhaps you should jump on St Louis Real Estate Search and find a few houses to look at as well? Well, if you have been thinking about buying a home, you would do well to buy now rather than wait for spring. As the table below shows, based upon data just released from ATTOM Data Solutions, people in Missouri that buy homes in October, November or December get the best deals of the year! This may account for the fact that there were 25% Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – November 2019 – Low-Interest Rates And Consistent Sales Trends

By Dennis Norman, on November 11th, 2019

The St Louis real estate market trends remain steady and consistent! The St Louis home sales and price trends give me an optimistic outlook for next year. Low-interest rates continue to offset some of the cost of the increases in home prices that have occurred. Find out more, as well as get information on some of St Louis’s best resources for home buyers and sellers in our just-released market update video.

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Jefferson County Home Sales Trend Holds Steady

By Dennis Norman, on October 24th, 2019

There were 3,379 homes sold in Jefferson County in the 12-month period ending September 30, 2019, a very slight decline of about 1% from a year ago when there were 3,413 homes sold in the prior 12-months. For the past three months, the 12-month home sales trend in Jefferson County has been amazingly consistent, with data for July and September being identical and August being off by just 1 home sale.

Prices on the rise and inventory is low in Jefferson County..

As the STL Market Report for Jefferson County below the chart shows, there is just a 2.75 month Continue Reading →

St Charles County Home Sales Trend Falls Back To Early 2016 Levels

By Dennis Norman, on October 23rd, 2019

There were 5,755 homes sold in St Charles County in the 12-month period ending September 30, 2019, a decline of 5.2% from a year ago when there were 6,070 homes sold in the prior 12-months. This is the lowest 12-month trend since February 2016 when there were 5,676 homes sold in the prior 12-months.

As the chart below illustrates, even with the declining trend in home sales in St Charles County, it is still significantly higher than back in 2014 and 2015.

Lack of listings in St Charles could be part of the problem…

As the STL Market Report for Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – October 2019 – Interest Rates Offsetting Price Increases

By Dennis Norman, on October 19th, 2019

The St Louis real estate market is slowing down somewhat as it does every year around this time, but the market still looks good. Low-interest rates continue to offset some of the cost of the increases in home prices that have occurred. Find out more, as well as get information on some of St Louis’s best resources for home buyers and sellers in our just-released market update video.

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House Flipping In St Louis Drops 12 Percent In 2nd Quarter

By Dennis Norman, on September 19th, 2019

There were 902 homes “flipped” in the St Louis metro area during the second quarter of 2019, or 7.5% of the total number of homes sold in the St Louis metro area during the quarter, according to data just released by ATTOM Data Solutions. This is a decline of 12% from the prior quarter but is an 8% increase from the prior year. As our table below shows, on a national level, house flipping accounted for just 5.9% of the homes sold during the 2nd quarter of this year, which is an 18% decrease from the quarter before and a Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – August 2019 – Dirt Cheap Interest Rates

By Dennis Norman, on August 23rd, 2019

The St Louis real estate market is still going strong and interest rates are dirt cheap! Not much has changed over the past few months in the St Louis housing market in terms of home prices and sales, prices continue to rise at normal, healthy rates and sales continue along at a rate a little shy of last year. What has changed dramaticaly over the past 9 or 10 months however, are interest rates. The have dropped by a third and in this months market update video I do a little math and show just how much that impacts home Continue Reading →

St Louis Foreclosure Rate Drops By Double Digits

By Dennis Norman, on August 7th, 2019

The rate of foreclosure in St Louis during the 2nd quarter of this year was 1 foreclosure filing for every 759 housing units, a decrease of 15.68% from the prior quarter and a decline of 18.54% from the 2nd quarter of 2018, according to data just released by ATTOM Data Research. St Louis has the 73rd highest foreclosure rate of the 220 MSA’s ranked in the report.

As the table below shows, only three counties in the St Louis MSA saw an increase in foreclosure activity this quarter from the prior quarter and, with the exception of Lincoln County, none Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – July 2019 – Still going strong!

By Dennis Norman, on July 13th, 2019

The St Louis real estate market continues to show strength and favors sellers, however, buyers have shown they are price-sensitive. While most of the St Louis market remains a seller’s market based upon the lack of inventory for sale, this does not mean (and the data backs it up) that it’s a blank check for sellers. Buyers in the market appear to be savvy and are price sensitive. In fact, one frustration I hear from agents with over-priced listings is that, not only do they only have few showings, they are not receiving offers. I think the issue is Continue Reading →