The 11-county St. Louis real estate areas achieved more than 29,000 closed residential real estate sales transactions for previously occupied homes in 2009, according to real estate statistics and data compiled by the St Louis Association of Realtors and the St Louis Post-Dispatch. Real estate sales in the market were boosted by a surge in activity in the fall of 2009, primarily driven by two factors - historically low interest rates and the $8,000 tax credit which was available to first-time homebuyers.
The Saint Louis area has been hard by the recession of 2008, however, recently, signs of recovery are being reported by real estate agents and economists in the region.
The luxury home market - above $800K - continues to be completely dead with significant discounting by sellers looking to attract prospective homebuyers who are only interested in “bargain” priced properties. A recent article on the luxury home market in St Louis discusses the difficult challenges for home sellers. Although median housing prices are well below previous years’ levels, the market is showing signs of recovery at lower price points with sales levels in 2009 exceeding the same period in 2008.
According to the St Louis Post-Dispatch, signs of life are returning to the Saint Louis real estate market - and now may be a great time to purchase with the home buyer tax credits and low interest rates. As Saint Louis homes for sale throughout the Saint Louis Metro improve, area realtors note that the majority of these gains are in the lower price ranges, generally for housing at $300,000 or less. Houses in the area that are selling for less than $125,000 have recently seen bidding wars and several have sold for more than list price.
However, median prices for homes in the area continue to remain below the same period last year with one exception - the City of St Louis - which showed a healthy 6.6% gain. The median price of St. Louis metro homes as of October 2009 was $141,000, which was a decrease of 1.3 percent from the preceding quarter..
The St Louis Business Journal reported that many purchasers of condos are opting to purchase existing projects in the region. The inability of proposed Saint Louis condo projects to be built and delivered is reviving sales at existing condo properties. Although the residential real estate in Miami is improving, many experts believe that the region is still a ways away from a full recovery of the St Louis as reported by Kevin Cottrell at St Louis real estate today.