St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch November 29th, 2008

Saint Louis Real Estate Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
November 29th, 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 continues to slow as we head into Holiday season with 100+ less active listings, almost 50 less accepted contracts and our pending ratio dropping below 10 percent to 9.76 percent. This is the lowest pending ratio we’ve recorded since we started tracking these statistics in August of 2007. Please remember that some of this slow-down is typical of the season we are in.

The notable statistics are when you compare our current numbers to the same week last year. Compared to last year, this week, we are down 700+ active listings, 255 less accepted contracts, and the pending ratio is below last year by almost 4 percent.

Sellers-this is a good time to stay in the market, as inventory is shrinking, and as long as you are priced at or below market value, you have a better chance of attracting a motivated buyer. Buyer activity is still good, and buyers now are much more motivated than previous months.

Buyers-you have less inventory to look at, which should make your decision easier when you find the right house for you. For buyers who will be using FHA financing, better buy by the end of the year, as after the first of the new year, FHA guidelines will be changing. FHA’s minimum 3 percent downpayment will be going up to 3.5 percent, and the upper limits of FHA loans will be lowered by $10,000.

The good news from the Fed this past week is that they will be buying up to $500 billion of securitized home loans in the next 12 to 18 months. This news alone is what has caused mortgage rates to drop so significantly this last week. Read Bankrate.com’s article detailing the Fed’s actions HERE.

REAL ESTATE AGENTS AND FOR SALE BY OWNERS- Are your listings and / or home sitting on the market too long?? 120 days or more?? We have a program designed to get your listing or FSBO home sold. Real Estate Agents get paid their commission in full. Contact us for more info.

WHO DO YOU KNOW NOW that is challenged with their mortgage payments OR needs to sell for less than their home is worth?? WE CAN HELP!!

WHO DO YOU KNOW that’s 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.

Fill out the form below to view the Market Report.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 30th, 2008 at 8:13 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.

One Comment »

Doug Devitre said:

Congratulations on executing one of the best real estate blogs in St. Louis. I have seen many that are poor at best and I would consider yours at the top of the list. In the next couple years you will dominate the market if you can keep it up. Great job!

# 1 December 2008 at 10:44 pm