St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch December 15, 2007

St. Louis Real Estate Market Watch
December 15th, 2007
The Anatomy of St. Louis Real Estate

The St. Louis Home for Sale Team provides a weekly St. Louis County and Bi-weekly St. Charles County Market and Jefferson County Market Watch Report to review and plug into your home buying or selling scenario. Your questions and comments are welcome!

This week, buyers choices for that Dream Home continue to diminish, as we are showing less than 5000 active listings. To follow, the pending ratio is inching higher to 12.48%. This is typical this time of year, but what is not typical is the recent actions by the Fed and other Central Banks around the world, and the mortgage rates on a roller-coaster, but still very affordable around 6%.

Both buyers and sellers should benefit from these recent actions by the Fed and other Central Banks around the world. Buyers that fit into the scenarios just created will have a better chance of obtaining a mortgage or possibly locking into a more favorable rate. Sellers therefore should have a better chance of getting their home sold in a timely fashion.

The higher priced homes in our area may also benefit, as there is now talk about raising the $417,000 limit on conventional mortgages. Currently, a mortgage above $417,000 is qualified as a JUMBO mortgage which usually comes with a higher interest rate.

Who knows where all these “fixes” will come to rest, but it seems that everything that’s being done is good step in the right direction. Keep an eye on what’s happening with us by checking out Chris Scheer’s articles that are posted in our blog frequently. You can also check current happenings at www.realtor.org.

Thinking of buying or selling a home? Contact Us for additional information tailored to your specific needs.

St. Louis Real Estate St. Louis CountyMarket Watch December 15th, 2007

St. Louis Real Estate Jefferson County Market Watch December 15th, 2007

St. Louis Real Estate St. Charles County Market Watch November 24, 2007

St. Louis Real Estate Benchmark Report November 2007

The report begins by breaking the market into 17 distinct price ranges. Then we show current listings and current pending listings which creates a pending ratio, which is helpful on a week to week basis to see if activity is increasing or decreasing in a price category.

The report also shows the last 6 months of results and compares the data to the same 6 months of the previous year.

The Market Analysis includes data on:

Number of Active Listings (Current)
Pending Sales (Going to closing)
Pending Ratio (Active vs.Pending)
Sold (Last 6 months)
Expired (Last 6 months)1
Average List Price
Average Sale Price
Average List to Sales Price %
Days on Market (DOM)
Months worth of Inventory (Based on current pending rate)
Buyers Market: > 7 months of listing inventory

Transitional Market: 5 - 7 months of listing inventory (sometimes called a “balanced” market)

Seller Market: < 5 months of listing inventory

Average % Sale Price/List Price (0-30), (31-60), (61-90), (91-120), (120+)DOM

Notice that you’re paying a penalty for over pricing. . .hey. .it’s a fact!!

The Benchmark Report is produced monthly for: