The biggest news for St. Louis and national real estate this week is coming from the mortgage industry. Mortgage interest rates have dropped below 4% for a conventional 30 year fixed-rate loan. While the vast majority of loan applications are for refinances, we are seeing a pick up in purchase activity as a result.

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.

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.

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.

UNDER CONTRACT

Beautiful 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch with walkout, finished lower level in convenient location near Olive and 270. Hardwood floors throughout! Large Living Room opens to spacious Dining Room overlooking multi-level deck and fenced yard. Dining Room opens to nice kitchen– many updates include new cabinets, countertops, gas range, dishwasher, ceramic tile. All three bedrooms have hardwood floors. Master has full bath with shower. Walkout lower level is nice with very large family room, french doors to backyard, laundry, 4th sleeping area. Sump pump, furnace/A/C (3 yrs), newer windows. Backyard is fenced and private. Possible short sale.

According to reports June was the 5th month in a row where pending real estate sales were on the rise, great news for the national real estate market.  While there are still many areas where sales are faltering the majority of the country is seeing home values stabilizing or dropping at greatly decreased levels while at the same time the volume of sales is picking up.  A recent Associated Press article pointed out that “the last time there were five consecutive monthly gains was July 2003.”  Lower home values, the first time home buyer tax credit and reduced mortgage rates are seen as drawing people back into the real estate market.  People can find bargains as far as real estate goes and that is an attraction in any market.

At this link you can create an online search for your St. Louis home.

For more information visit YahooRealEstate.com.