St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch October 24th, 2009

Trick or Treat Real Estate-Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest Saint Louis , Sunset Hills, Mo.
October 24th, 2009
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 heads towards the end of October with activity very stable. Our average pending ratio continues to move in a positive direction, with more homes accepting contracts and getting sold.

Our average listing and selling prices are remaining stable also, with the average list price to sales price percentage still at 96 percent. Inventory still remains at acceptable levels at an average of 5.8 months.

In an article published by RISMedia.com, the National Association of Realtors proclaimed that existing home sales bounced back strongly in September. First Time Home Buyers drove much of this activity, which marks five gains in the past six months. Sales activity is at the highest level we have seen since July 2007, when sales hit 5.73 million, nation-wide.

According to the article, the Midwest existing home sales jumped 9.6 percent, or 1.25 million. This is 7.8 percent above one year ago. The median price of a home in the Midwest today is $147,600 which is 1.0 percent below September 2008. CLICK HERE to read the complete article.

Speaking of First Time Home Buyers; Have you heard about all the fraud plaguing the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit??

How about this:

1. 19,300 people filed claims for homes they HAVEN’T bought yet.

2. 74,000 filers claimed a credit, but have owned a home in the last three years.

3. 580 people that filed for the credit were under 18 years old. One of these claimants was only 4 years old!!

4. 3,200 filers used an Individual Taxpayer ID number, not a social security number. Taxpayer ID’s are usually used by immigrants not allowed to work in the US. Non-resident aliens are not allowed to claim the tax credit.

This may make you shake your head, or laugh, or both. However, when we are seriously approaching the November 30 expiration date of the tax credit, this may jeopardize it’s hopeful extension into next year.

The General Accouting Office (GAO) reports that over 1.4 million people have filed for the credit in 2008 and 2009, costing the government $10 billion in lost revenue. The total amount of the program is limited to $13.6 billion.

I have to ask-Congress is complaining about a measly $10 billion???

Looking at the BIG PICTURE, if this $10-$14 billion helps stabilize the housing market, and helps provide homes for people that would have had to wait another year or so, I say that’s a far cry better than the Government pissing $10-$15 billion away on some other project we would probably never ever hear about.

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, October 25th, 2009 at 8:34 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.