St Louis Region

Last year I reported that the majority of buyers were choosing lower priced homes with little demand in the higher price ranges.

Even with the daily bad economic news, people have continued to buy homes throughout 2008 and 2009. However, buyers concerned about the economy clearly made conservative spending choices. Homes appropriate for first time buyers and investors made up a big portion of the sales in the last 2 years.

2009 Home Sales:

Take a look below to see the differences in sales of single family home sales for the 3 major counties that make up the St. Louis region. The charts below include residential sales that closed between in 2009 and were listed in the MLS. The data is obtained through MARIS and deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Is the Market Getting Better or Worse?

It depends on your price range and your county.

Compare the 2009 charts above to sales in 2008.

2009 Report Summary:

There isn’t much of a demand in any of the counties for high priced homes. The vast majority of homes that sold were priced below $300,000. However, there are big differences between the trends in St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County.

• St. Louis City:
  • more homes sold under $100,000 than in any other price range (50%)
  • 88% of sales were priced under $200,000
  • 96% were priced under $300,000
• St. Louis County:
  • more homes sold under $100,000 than in any other price range (37%)
  • 70% of sales were priced under $200,000 (with almost as many selling between $100-200k (33%) as in the $1-100k price range)
  • 85% of the homes sold under $300,000
• St. Charles County:
  • 6% of sales were under $100,000 (dramatically lower than both other counties)
  • 63% of sales were priced under $200,000 (with 57% of home sales between $100-200k)
  • 90% of the homes sold under $300,000

If you are trying to sell a home that is priced over $300,000, less than 1 in 10 home buyers are looking in your price range. When you break it down by county, there just aren’t many buyers.

Let’s say you are trying to sell a house priced in the $600,000s in St. Louis County. About 2% of St. Louis County home buyers might be interested with only 1% of the region’s home buyers in the correct price range. With only 215 St. Louis County buyers closing on a home in this price point in the last 12 months…or 18 per month for all of St. Louis County, you can’t afford to overprice your home and miss out on the few buyers that are out there.

How Long Does it Take to Sell a Home?

Contrary to popular opinion, there are homes that are selling quickly. Just over 3 in 10 homes sold in 30 days or less, and slightly more than half of the homes sold in 60 days or less.

I work hard to price my home listings correctly on day 1, and then extensively market the homes using today’s newest technologies to reach internet searching buyers. The result is that my listings sell quicker and closer to the list price than the general market.

What does all this mean?

If you are trying to sell a home and it is priced above or below the average sale prices for your county, there just aren’t a lot of buyers. You need to consider pricing your home aggressively if you hope to get it sold. If you don’t need to move, it might be smarter to stay put for a year or two until sales pick up in your price range.

If you are trying to buy a home, don’t be surprised if you end up competing with other buyers if you are looking at the same price range as the majority of buyers. If you are in a position to purchase a higher priced home, you should be able to find a great deal.

To see more market statistic charts, see the market reports by community or zip codes.

Check back for Part 2 of this series covering condo sale prices.

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