St. Louis Real Estate Voice

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch October 19th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:27:08 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week is starting to follow our typical Fall trends with fewer new active listings. Of the active listings out there, we are still seeing pending ratios (homes accepting contracts) well above the 20 percent mark in the lower price ranges.

The St. Charles County market is on FIRE in their lower price ranges. In the $100,000 to $125,000 range, 42 out of 75 active listings have accepted contracts in the last 30 or so days, for a

Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch October 10th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:52:05 -0500

The Saint Louis Real Estate Market this week continues with good activity as Fall is upon us. This is the time of year we start to see activity falling off a bit, but not so this year-so far.

Compared to this same week last year, we are seeing increased numbers of homes accepting contracts (pending) in all price ranges from $100,000 dollars up to $400,000 dollars. Our pending ratio this week sits at 16.51 percent

Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch-October 5th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:09:08 -0500

The Saint Louis Real Estate Market this week shows a few less active listings and a few less homes accepting contracts, but the number of homes being sold continues to climb. Our lower price ranges, as usual this year, tend to account for the majority of the activity.

First Time homebuyers are a large part of this activity, but we also see many active second

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Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch September 26th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:35:11 -0500

The Saint Louis Real Estate Market this week continues to see buyers actively shopping for their first new home. We are also seeing good activity from "move-up" buyers looking for their next home. Some of these "move-up" buyers have recently sold, or are in the process of selling, their current residence to a First Time Home Buyer, and now need to find a another home.

Homes accepting contracts (pending) are increasing somewhat each week, driving our average pending ratio up to 16.32% this week. Pending ratios continue to be well above the 20 percent mark in our lower price ranges.

We continue to hear about the possible extension of

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch September 19th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:36:28 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week shows increases across the board with more active listings, more homes accepting contracts and pending ratios up from last week. Driving these increases are primarily the lower price ranges where a lot of first time homebuyers are moving full steam, as their window to qualify for the $8000 dollar tax credit is closing, and not too slowly now.

We still hear and

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch September 12th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:42:42 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week shows a slight increase in active listings and and increase in homes accepting contracts and sold. This activity has pushed the pending ratio up three quarters of a point to 15.27 percent.

Activity in the lower price ranges still accounts for the majority of our sales, as first time homebuyers scramble to beat the deadline of November 30th. November 30th is the last day a buyer will be able to close on a home and still qualify for the $8000.00 tax credit.

If you are keeping up with the news, nationally and locally, you have undoubtedly

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch September 5th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:40:53 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week continues with great activity in the lower price ranges, from $100,000 up to $250,000. St. Louis County pending ratios are anywhere from 16 percent up to 21 percent in these price ranges.

It's worthy to note that in St. Charles County, the same price ranges are exhibiting pending ratios from 12.7 percent up to a high of 36.5 percent.

With a little less than 3 months left before the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit of $8000.00 expires, buyer

St. Louis Real Estate Market Watch August 29th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:04:06 -0500

The past several weeks we have been touting the benefits to First Time Homebuyers and why they should get out there and buy now. Whether you are a first time homebuyer, a repeat buyer, a second home buyer or a seller in this market, there are incentives for you too.

If you are buying

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St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch August 22nd, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:41:46 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate market this week has not showed any signs of slowing down. August usually slows a bit due to hot weather and the beginning of a new school year. This year, we have not seen a typical St. Louis August, or for that matter, we haven't seen a typical St. Louis summer this year. Our summer weather this year is more reminiscent of Wisconsin, Michigan or even Minnesota summers.

This is great house-hunting weather and has definitely contributed to our real estate activity. First Time Homebuyers have also done more than their part to help keep activity high.

We should take note, though, that

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch August 15th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:09:24 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week still has first time homebuyers scrambling to find and buy their first home as the November 30th deadline to close looms near. With Lender disclosure requirements re-vamped and FHA loan funding giant, Taylor, Bean & Whittaker ceasing to do business last week, challenges for first time homebuyers and others seem to be mounting.

We mentioned last

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch August 8th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:51:08 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market continues this week with great activity. The lower price ranges that first time homebuyers typically shop, show an increase in active listings and pending ratios between 16 percent and 18 percent. Buyer activity in these price ranges continues to be strong.

Last week, we mentioned that lending requirements have changed recently and that "quick closings" are a thing of the past.

Our partners

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St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch August 1st, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 21:57:45 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week....WAIT A MINUTE!....

IS THIS REALLY the first of August already?? Hard to believe, for me, what with a pile of mulch still in my driveway, a yard only half re-landscaped, and my list of summer "honey-do's" is still a mile long. My good intentions better get moving in the next two months or so! (I hope my wife isn't on our RSS feed!)

Ok, back to Real Estate; our market this...

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch July 25th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:17:01 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week shows a small increase in active listings and a small decrease in homes accepting contracts (Pending). Thus, our pending ratio has dropped slightly from last week. Homes sold for the past six months is at 3246, a decline of about 900 from this same time last year.

WHAT?! I thought our activity was up considerably from last year?? Well, check the numbers; as far as we know, statistics don't lie. Last year, our active listings were up about 700 from this year

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St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch July 18th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:13:42 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate market this week doesn't look much different than last week. Active listings have increased a tick, our pending ratio continues to hover around 16.5% and inventory remains at 6.1 months as an average across all price ranges.

Buyer activity remains strong and we are even seeing a bit of an up-tick in activity in some of the higher

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St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch July 11th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:14:09 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week continues to show great buyer activity, especially in the "First Time Homebuyer" price ranges. These price ranges tend to be around the $100,000 to $250,000 range.

Pending ratios in these price ranges continue at or above 20 percent. Note worthy also

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch June 27th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:12:48 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week seems to have hit a bit of a plateau with active listings. Even so, listings that are accepting contracts and home sales closing are still increasing. That means that inventory should be declining. This is more good news for sellers and this should be an added incentivve to buyers to be ready to make an offer when you find your home.

We've said this before, but look this week at inventory levels in the lower price ranges in St. Louis County. From $125,000 up to $249,000, inventory levels

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch June 20th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:43:46 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week continues with our usual summer activity.

Our pending ratios (homes accepting contracts) in the lower price ranges continue to hover around 20 percent, or above. These are the price ranges where most first time homebuyers are shopping-and buying.

The St. Charles County

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St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch June 13th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:11:03 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week continues with great activity and enthusiasm. However, over the last two weeks, a "monkey wrench" of sorts has been thrown into the mix for a lot of homebuyers and current homeowners who are planning to re-finance their mortgage.

Mortgage rates for the last two weeks have been going up, and now are at their highest level since Thanksgiving last year. WHOA!! How did this happen, you ask?

There are lots of theories out there, from less Federal involvment in the mortgage industry; increased buyer activity has made lenders over-confident of what's really hapening ; and homeowners who are re-financing through the "Makeing Homes Affordable" programs aren't able to if their current loan has mortgage insurance.

Holden Lewis, who writes for Bankrate.com has contributed two good articles on this subject last week entitled, " Mortage rates hit 6-month high" and "Rates

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch June 6th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:16:46 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market is getting HOTTER by the week! At least in all price ranges below $300,000. Both St. Louis County and St. Charles County are showing pending ratios of at or near 20 percent. When was the last time you saw 1 out of every 5 homes listed accepting contracts within 30-40 days??

In St. Louis County, the pending ratios at or near 20 percent could be seen back as far as January in some price ranges, but we didn't see strong competition

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St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch May 23rd, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Sun, 24 May 2009 19:57:41 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week spotlights the St. Charles County Market Watch report.

If you thought homes were "flying off the shelf" in St. Louis County, check out the St. Charles Market Watch Report! In the price ranges of $100,000 to $200,000, pending ratios are above 25 percent, and look at the $100,000 to $124,999 range-53.4 percent. What's happening??

These price ranges typically move the St. Charles market, just like they do in St. Louis

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch May 16th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Sun, 17 May 2009 22:05:17 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week still shows great buyer and seller activity. Our pending ratio is up to 16.8 percent, with more active listings coming on the market and more homes accepting contracts this week.

The price ranges that typically keep our local market moving; from $100,000 to $300,000 continue with the highest amount of activity, with pending ratios very near and above 20 percent. We see inventory in these price ranges at anywhere from 4.2 months to 6 months.

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch May 9th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Sun, 10 May 2009 21:28:25 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate market this week is showing increases in active listings, homes accepting contracts and our pending ratio is up to 16.3 percent.

These are all good signs of buyer and seller activity. We continue to talk to buyers in the marketplace who are still looking for their "deal of a century". The misconception that a lot of these "bargain hunters" has is that they will be able to find an awesome home, in move-in condition at bargain basement pricing.

In our local market, what we are finding

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch May 2nd, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Sun, 03 May 2009 23:18:31 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week continues with great buyer and seller activity. Active listings, homes accepting contracts and our pending ratios are all fairly consistent with last week's levels. We still continue to see a slight increase in homes being sold, and in some price ranges, we are actually seeing selling prices slighty above the averages from this same time period last year.

This year we are beginning

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch April 25th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 22:59:56 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week continues with good buyer and seller activity with an increase in active listings and an increase in our pending ratio by almost 1 percent from last week. Granted, this is the time of year we always see an increase in activity, but we are definitely seeing positive signs from the buyers and sellers we talk to.

However, don't confuse this increase in activity with pricing. Home prices are still a bit behind last year at this

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch April 18th, 2009

Doug Aegerter (Keller Williams Realty St. Louis) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 22:14:17 -0500

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week shows continued strong buyer activity in the lower price ranges. The higher price ranges, starting at around $350,000 and up are also exhibiting a bit of growth in activity; a bit slower than the lower price ranges, but a hint of some improvement.

The time of year has something to do with this, as Spring has usually created an increase of activity, but we are seeing more confidence in the banking industry and mortgage lenders and buyers are becoming more aware of the good values in our local real estate market