St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch January 18th, 2008

St. Louis Real Estate Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
January 18^th, 2008
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! 

The St. Louis Real Estate market continues to show positive signs this week with an increase in active listings and a small increase in accepted contracts (pending sales).  The pending ratio has dropped just slightly, which is to be expected as more homes are coming on the market a bit faster than they are accepting contracts.  Were potential buyers waiting to see what the Fed would do?? Maybe—and look what they did!! With 30 year fixed rates at around 5.43% now and 15 year fixed rates below 5%, OK buyers—MOVE IT!! 

Sellers-if you were waiting for the right time to put your home on the market-it’s probably NOW—don’t wait for spring-who knows where interest rates will be by April or May.  Sellers on the market now will experience less competition as we still talk to plenty of potential sellers who are waiting for spring.

We recently spoke with a real estate agent in Orlando, Florida and when asked to give us a brief snapshot of the market in Orlando, he described it with this story.  “I’m headed out to list a home this afternoon, which just 18–24 months ago was valued at $700,000.  Today we are listing it for $475,000 and dropping the price $25,000 a WEEK until it sells. How about that??”  He also went on the say that “When Orlando real estate was booming just a couple of years ago, many investors and real estate agents bought all the land and homes they could get their hands on, thinking that the values would continue to sky-rocket. When the bubble burst, they were stuck with huge payments and are now doing anything they can to dump their inventory.” 

Makes our relatively stable real estate market here in St. Louis seem boring, but all I can say is. “I’m glad I don’t live in Orlando”.   

It’s no wonder the media has had a field day with the real estate industry on a national level. 

ANYONE LOOKING FOR A GREAT DEAL IN ORLANDO???  

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

St. Louis Real Estate St. Louis County Market Watch January 18, 2008

St. Louis Real Estate Jefferson  County Market Watch January 11th, 2008

St. Louis Real Estate St. Charles County Market Watch January 18, 2008

St. Louis Real Estate Benchmark Report December 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:

• Single Family Residence
• Ranch Style
• 1300 - 2000 sq.ft.
• 3 Bedrooms
• 1.5 Bathrooms  

 

Art Wagner can be reached at art@stlouisrealestatevoice.com

This entry was posted on Friday, January 18th, 2008 at 10:44 pm and is filed under St. Louis Market Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.