St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch May 3rd, 2008

St. Louis Real Estate Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
May 3rd, 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 this week shows a small gain in active listings, with fewer homes accepting contracts, thus our pending ratio has declined back to almost 15 percent from last week’s 16.16 percent.

Not to worry-so far. This is the time of year that we should be seeing more than meager increases in active listings and buyer activity increasing a bit more. The next 4–6 weeks will tell us if we will be seeing our usual summer activity or whether the summer of 2008 will present it’s own challenges for our real estate market.

We still think that buyers and sellers alike are waiting to see what will happen in our local market. Our advice is as always-TIMING THE MARKET is virtually impossible. With buyers and sellers sitting on the sidelines, they themselves are helping to “create” the market we all have to work within.

April 30th the Fed announced another rate cut for the federal funds rate by .25 percent. OK, so banks can borrow money short-term from each other cheaper now. The rate cut won’t necessarily help borrowers in need of a mortgage, as long-term rates aren’t affected directly by the Fed’s rate decisions. Long-term rates are tied more to inflation expectations and the bond markets. The rate cut MAY have an impact on home-owners who have a home equity line of credit, as these are linked to the prime rate. Read Bankrate.com’s evaluation of the Fed’s rate cut here.

Bankrate.com also has a great article evaluating the WINNERS and LOSERS in the Fed’s moves these past several months with interest rates. In short, the winners are the Middle income homebuyers with good or better credit. With prices declining and inventory of homes increasing, middle income buyers who felt challenged in the previous “boom” market now are finding homes more affordable.

The LOSERS are the people with financial challenges, since getting a mortgage now could be a larger challenge with credit tightening and lender requirements more stringent. Check out the complete article here.

For some great information regarding the real estate market and a really cool home-value calculator, check out the report just released by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) at http://www.ofheo.gov/.

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 April 3rd, 2008

St. Louis Real Estate Jefferson County Market Watch April 3rd, 2008

St. Louis Real Estate St. Charles County Market Watch April 26th, 2008

St. Louis Real Estate Benchmark Report March 2008

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 Sunday, May 4th, 2008 at 7:10 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.