With inventory holding steady and pending sales increasing slightly, the data found on the Nolting Report points to good news this week. In fact, our months of inventory average number has now dipped into the 6 – 7 range for the first time in a long while. While this number still indicates a buyer’s market, it is awfully close to a balanced market. I’m continuing to expect a healthy fall sales season as buyers who waited out the summer’s political and economic troubles (debt ceiling debate, downgrade of the economy by Standard and Poor’s) finally decide to get back in the market.

Within the last 7 days, Active Listings have dropped from 3993 to 3931 as many listing agreements expired on the last day of August.  We also saw a large number of end of the month closings, resulting in a our Pending number dropping from 1011 to 937.  This week should show a healthy beginning of the fall market in St. Louis as continued low interest rates push those who have been sitting on the sidelines onto the playing field.

In this week’s St. Louis Real Estate update, there has been a slight decline in the number of active listings and month of inventory. This could be a direct result of people getting back into the swing of “school time” for their children putting the real estate market on the back burner. Although, with interest rates still at record lows there should be an increase in houses being sold for the next coming months. If you are a seller in this economy the good news is that the sellers that are motivated to sell there home have taken their property off the market. Therefore, giving those motivated sellers more of an advantage to selling their home.

This week’s slide in the number of Pending Contracts in St. Louis is  accompanied by a reduction in the number of ACTIVE listings.  In fact,  from a statistical standpoint, your home continues to have the same  statistical likelihood of being selected by the buyer pool — fewer  buyers have fewer homes to choose from.  Typical expectations for the  2nd half of August — showings tend to be on the slow side as families  focus on getting their kids back to school.  After Labor Day, we start  to see a pick up as families begin to focus on moving prior to the  holidays.  Of course, the highest quality buyer — the one who NEEDS to  find something — is always out there regardless of the time of year.

This week’s slide in the number of Pending Contracts in St. Louis is accompanied by a reduction in the number of ACTIVE listings.  In fact, from a statistical standpoint, your home continues to have the same statistical likelihood of being selected by the buyer pool — fewer buyers have fewer homes to choose from.  Typical expectations for the 2nd half of August — showings tend to be on the slow side as families focus on getting their kids back to school.  After Labor Day, we start to see a pick up as families begin to focus on moving prior to the holidays.  Of course, the highest quality buyer — the one who NEEDS to find something — is always out there regardless of the time of year.

The St. Louis real estate market took an expected hit last week.  Concerns about the financial stability of our country, back-to-school seasonal issues, and continued heat-dome weather contributed to reduced showings, offers, and contracts.  The good news is all over the media:  Interest rates continue to be at record-breaking lows!  Buyers will choose homes that are aggressively priced and move-in ready. For any information about your next home, please call Russell Nolting at 314-677-6560

Here is the updated St. Louis Residential Real Estate Market Overview for August 1, 2011. After a couple of weeks of increases in number of contracts written, this week we saw a significant reduction in the “Pending (Last 30 Days)” number. I don’t think we can ignore the impact of multiple 100+ degree days last week. The fact is, showings (and therefore offers/contracts) have decreased significantly these past couple weeks. Inventory continues to come on the market. Recent closings have driven our “Months of Inventory” number down significantly to 8.39 months. We continue to be a buyer’s market. Aggressively priced homes are receiving the most attention and are selling quickly. Russell Nolting is a dedicated listing specialist in the St. Louis area, specializing in residential and luxury real estate. For any additional information on your next home in the St. Louis area, do not hesitate to call Russell at 314-677-6560.

This week’s updated St. Louis Residential Real Estate Total Market Overview!! After a couple of weeks of increases in number of contracts written, this week we saw a significant reduction in the “Pending (Last 30 Days)” number.  I don’t think we can ignore the impact of multiple 100+ degree days last week.  The fact is, showings (and therefore offers/contracts) have decreased significantly these past couple weeks.  Inventory continues to come on the market.  Recent closings have driven our “Months of Inventory” number down significantly to 8.39 months.  We continue to be a buyer’s market.  Aggressively priced homes are receiving the most attention and are selling quickly.  For any information regarding your next home, please call Russell Nolting at 314-677-6560.

In this week’s St. Louis Residential Real Estate and Luxury reports brought to you by the Russell Nolting Group, today’s very good news is that we hit a bottom last week in our “Pending (Last 30 Days)” and our “Number of Pending Listings” numbers. This week’s numbers look better. We will have to wait and see what next week shows us to determine if a trend is evolving. In other related news, we had a fairly large increase in the number of homes taking a price reduction over the past 7 days. Remember, if you haven’t had an offer in the past 30 days, the National Association of Realtors’ extensive research shows that you are probably 5 – 10% overpriced. Call Russell Nolting for more details at 314.677.6560. Or visit my home buyer’s search site to find your next home.

This week’s St. Louis Area Total Market Overview for residential real estate continues to show a mixed bag of news. The key “Months of Inventory” number has decreased as a result of an increase in closings as compared to the number of Active listings. This, of course, is welcome news for sellers who are struggling against record competition in the area. On the flip side, the “% of all listings under contract” metric has also decreased as Active listings have flooded the market and buyers continue to “take their time” picking out their next home. In fact, the past four weeks have shown a gradual decrease in the “Number of Pending Listings” number. This may indicate fewer buyers in the market than we had hoped. Overall, I believe that the market continues to limp along despite record low interest rates and high affordability for home buyers. In related news, the percentage of Active listings in St. Louis County that are bank/government owned has hit 9.9%. And 29.4% of properties that closed over the past 30 days were bank owned. These properties include many that are less than $100,000. The Bank Owned market has significantly increased as first-time home buyers are pursuing these bargain-priced properties.” For any information on your current or next home, do not hesitate to call Russell Nolting at 314-677-6560.