St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch July 26th, 2008

Saint Louis Real Estate Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
July 26^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 Saint Louis Real Estate Market this week is showing less active listings than the previous couple of weeks. We are still seeing homes selling, as our pending ratio has remained consistent. We are showing an increase in the pending ratio this week, however this is only due to less acive listings and home sales remaining at previous levels. Our average list prices and sales prices are also holding steady.

As we go through the summer months, we continue to talk with sellers and buyers who believe that our local market is still in terrible shape, with prices dropping and too much inventory in the market. Well, we’re here to tell you, that’s not the real scenario here in the St. Louis Metro Area.

Want PROOF? Check out the latest report released by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprises Oversight (OFHEO) at www.OFHEO.gov. Their statistics show that in Missouri, we have seen housing prices appreciate during the first quarter of 2008 and housing prices have actually RISEN 1.7% during the first quarter. Their statistics are based on actual home sales numbers and re-finance contracts. Read the complete 82 page report if you’re bored, but the charts, graphs and maps included tell the story.

Our own Multiple Listing Service data also supports this, as you view our Market Watch Reports each week. For the past 12–14 months, we have not experienced much movement either up or down in home prices in our local market. You can view the Market Watch Report from July 28^th, 2007 HERE. The only price range that has had significant movement is the luxury home market in the 800,000 plus range.

Inventory in this market is also far behind inventory numbers from 2007. With 5734 active listings as of today, compare that with 6321 active listings same time last year. A difference of almost 500, which is mostly in the price ranges that move our market at $300,000 and down.

One of our biggest challenges in this market now is helping buyers and sellers understand the REAL state of our local market. Sellers can feel more confident as home prices are holding steady. Buyers will do well now, as there is good value for the dollar in the marketplace and interest rates have dropped again. Buyers looking for their “bargain of a lifetime” may be out of luck, as our market is still showing average list to sales price ratios in a 2 percent to 5 percent range.

Thinking of buying or selling a home? Contact Us for a FREE Comparative Market Analysis and additional information tailored to your specific needs.

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

St. Louis Real Estate Jefferson County Market Watch July 26th, 2008

St. Louis Real Estate St. Charles County Market Watch July 19th, 2008

St. Louis Real Estate Benchmark Report June 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, July 27th, 2008 at 12:57 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.

Comments

Comment from James Wexler
Time July 28, 2008 at 10:42 am

It is always interesting to see what various markets are doing. Here in greater Phoenix we are seeing the number of foreclosures approach the level of resales. Until the ratio gets better we won’t see a bottom IMO.

Comment from Art Wagner
Time August 17, 2008 at 5:30 pm

James,

Thankfully, here is St. Louis, we are seeing our foreclosure and short sales transactions only making up 8-10 percent of our volume of business. I suspect it’s mainly due to the fact that when home prices ramped up so aggressively in other parts of the country from 2002-2005, we did not experience as large in increase in this market. As such, we also have not seen a huge bottoming out of prices. We have seen about a 3-6 percent decline in pricing in the last 2 years, depending on the price range, but all in all, STL has been a very stable market for the last 12-14 months. Good luck navigating through your challenging market.

Best Regards,

Art Wagner.