St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch August 30th, 2008

Saint Louis Real Estate Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
August 30th, 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!

ARE YOU thinking of buying or selling a home? Contact Doug Aegerter or Art Wagner for more information and a FREE Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of your home or your neighborhood.

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this weeks shows a few more active listings coming on the market and still fewer homes accepting contracts. Thus, our pending ratio has fallen again to 12.37 percent. This past February was the last time we saw a pending ratio under 13 percent. We are starting to move into our fall statistics now, instead of waiting until mid September and into October.

What does all this mean?? Sellers are beginning to understand the market, as our list pricing has inched up slightly, however, our average sales prices have held steady. Sellers are becoming more aware that in this local St. Louis market, homes are selling at an average of 95 percent of list price, AS LONG AS they are priced within market value to begin with.

Buyers, looking for that multitudes of inventory aren’t finding it this summer. Our average inventory one year ago was at 9.5 months and this year we are showing only 8.1 months of inventory. Buyers may soon start to find that the offer they put in on a home is now one of two or three offers being contemplated. Even on sales of foreclosures and short sales, we are seeing multiple offers being looked at.

There is even some good news from the mortgage industry, as interest rates have dropped again for the second week in a row, with a conforming 30 year fixed rate at 6.6 percent. The average 15 year fixed rate, which is popular for refinancing, has dropped to 6.14 percent. Adjustable rate mortgages however, inched up this past week, with the average one year ARM at 6.28 percent and the 5/1 ARM rising to 6.27 percent.

HAVE A HAPPY LABOR DAY HOLIDAY!!

St. Louis Real Estate St. Louis County Market Watch August 30, 2008

St. Louis Real Estate Jefferson County Market Watch August 23rd, 2008

St. Louis Real Estate St. Charles County Market Watch August 30, 2008

St. Louis Real Estate Benchmark Report July 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 (Closed transactions last 6 months)
Expired (Last 6 months)
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, August 31st, 2008 at 7:46 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.