St. Louis Housing Report April 2018-Buyers Forced to Act Quickly in a Competitive Market
The St. Louis Realtors April 2018 Housing report shows the pressure on buyers trying to find and purchase homes in the midst of growing buyer competition. The median days on market dropped to only 12 days, the lowest point in 2018. You read it right, the time it took for a home to go under contract was only 12 days! In addition to this challenge for buyers, the median sales price for homes rose 6% in April 2018 to $178,000 compared to last April’s’ 2017 median price of $167,625. That’s an increase of $11,075 in the sales price since last year at this time. For those of you who are already tired of reading … check out the video below:
Housing Statistics Show a Mixed Bag of Both Good News and Not So Good News
News is considered good news or bad news based on the perspective of the reader. So, let’s start with the good news for everyone; The economic and employment outlook for St. Louis is on the upswing. A recent study by the Brookings Institution ranked St. Louis as doing better than many other major industrial cities based on economic performance. In fact, St. Louis ranked in the top 16 among 70 cities. The St. Louis Regional Chamber reported the city of St. Louis’ unemployment rate at 3.4% compared to the national rate of 4.1% “There is no question that a solid, healthy local economy leads to a “healthy housing market“, said St. Louis REALTORS President Marc Levinson.
The Not So Good News
If you are a Seller this seems like a “Healthy Market”. Who wouldn’t feel healthy if you could sell your home within a month and get top dollar or even more?
The Buyers however are not rejoicing. What’s causing the pain on one end and the celebration on the other end of buying and selling a home these days? It all comes down to supply and demand. A balanced market exists when there’s a 6 month supply of homes for sale (see chart). 1-5 month supply favors the Seller while 6+ months of inventory favors the Buyer.
The St. Louis Housing Report for April showed a 2.1 month supply of homes available for purchase. Months of inventory were down 9% compared to April of 2017.
In summary: Buyers are facing a combination of 1. fewer homes for sale 2. escalating prices 3. less time to make a buying decision.
What’s a Buyer To Do?
Get to know the area and market you are interested in. Get the numbers before you jump in and take heart. There’s someone on your side who feels your pain! Our company has worked for Buyers only for over 15 years. We don’t even list homes which helps us avoid the potential conflict of interests that can come up in buying and selling a home. Think about it a second. The listing agent is there to protect the seller and sell their home at the highest price, that’s their job. Does this match up with your goal as a buyer? (Hopefully not) Learn More About the Concept
You, the buyer, should have your own Exclusive Buyer Agent who is there to protect your interests at every step of the real estate transaction. Your own Exclusive Buyer Agent works only for you providing the relevant data, comparative analysis on homes, neighborhoods, and home values from a buying, not selling perspective. Knowing the market and what you’re up against is the first step toward a successful home purchase. Check out some of our previous posts and call us at 636-532-4200 if you would like to chat:
The Not So Good News
