Latest News and Information on the St Louis Real Estate Market

 

Reality Check: US Home Resales Firm Feb Vs Jan, Drop y/y

NEW YORK, Mar 16 (MNI) - U.S. existing-home sales contracts picked up in February from January but stuttered vs. a year ago, when a federal tax credit fueled activity, according to real estate sales agents. Kevin Cottrell, Kelsey Cottrell Real Estate Economist said... Full Story

St Louis Real Estate News Blog - Catch the latest Saint Louis Real Estate News here!

As active participants in the Saint Louis Real Estate community, we're fortunate enough to be called upon regularly by local news outlets and media to participate in print articles, broadcast media (radio and television).  Our Chief Economist, Kevin Cottrell is a regular contributor and real estate expert on the St Louis real estate market.

St Louis Real Estate Today Podcast and Radio Show Blog - Catch Kevin Cottrell on the weekly Podcast and appearances on local radio shows.  

Kevin Cottrell and the podcast team produce a weekly Internet based Podcast Radio show covering key analysis of the St Louis Real Estate market and review of recent national and local news coverage with hard-hitting real world truths for St Louis home sellers and buyers.  Kevin also is a regular on several St Louis Radio shows - providing expert advice and analysis of the St Louis real estate market.

News Featuring Kevin Cottrell, Chief Economist for Kelsey Cottrell Realty

Kevin is a regular source for local print publications looking for quality real estate economic analysis and insights.  He is regularly featured in local print media including the St Louis Post Dispatch and St Louis Business Journal.

 

 

Hot…and Cold

By Stephanie Rapp • St Louis Magazine • September-October 2010

In some parts of town, houses fly off the market. In others? Not so much. We found the top and bottom three of areas for home sales in St. Louis.  Full story

 

 

Same old same old for St. Louis housing

BY TIM BRYANT • St Louis Post Dispatch • Wednesday, September 1, 2010

A national housing report out today contains more of the same for St. Louis. Slow population growth and job losses produced a soft regional housing market in the second quarter. That's the finding of HUD's latest U.S. Housing Market Conditions report.  Full story

 

 

Gallagher: Time might be right for homebuyers

BY JIM GALLAGHER • St Louis Post Dispatch • Saturday, August 28, 2010

Home sales fell 38 percent in St. Louis last month, as the expiration of federal home-buyer tax credits sucked the life out of real estate sales. So, is this the moment to go bottom fishing in the housing market?  Full story

 

 

Tax credit hangover crunches July home sales

By Tim Logan • St Louis Post Dispatch Wednesday, August 25, 2010

For months, a big federal tax credit for first-time home buyers propped up the housing market. In July, it stopped, and the results were grim. Full story

 

 

Housing market hinges on one thing: jobs

By Tim Logan • St Louis Post Dispatch Friday, July 23, 2010

Homebuyers are staying home. Home builders are in the dumps.  And most economists think things will get worse before they get better. Three years into a housing slump of epic proportions, after two rounds of tax credits and record-low interest rates, there's a growing chorus of worry that we're in for a double-dip. Full story

 

 

Numbers detail slowing St. Louis housing Market 

6/23/10 By Tim Bryant St Louis Post Dispatch  

Peering into the numbers provides a chilly picture of how expiration of the federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers affected house sales in the St. Louis area.  The number of pending sales contracts peaked at just under 1,000 in early May in St. Louis County... View Graphic showing St Louis Pending Sales numbers referenced in St Louis Post here. Full Story

 

 

Spring poses key test for St. Louis housing market

04/18/2010 By Tim Logan St Louis Post Dispatch

It's spring, the eternal season of rejuvenation. And that has some hoping, at last, for a rebirth of the housing market.

It has been a rough two years, with buyers and sellers battered by a wave of foreclosures, tight credit and uncertain job prospects. Government support — in the form of tax credits and federal backing for mortgages — has helped keep sales moving. But now those supports are ending, making this spring a key test of whether the housing market can walk on its own again. Full Story

 

 

Pending Sales Rise 8.2% in February

04/05/2010 By ALAN ZIBEL  Associated Press Real Estate Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The housing market is coming back from the winter doldrums.  The number of buyers who agreed to purchase previously occupied homes rose sharply in February, far exceeding expectations, a report said Monday. Full Story

 

 

Two Top Home Builders Look to Expand In St Louis

03/12/2010 By Tim Bryant ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Pulte Homes and McBride & Son, the big guns in St. Louis-area home building, are bulking up on new developments as the economy slowly recovers.

Both companies are acquiring lots that banks had taken back from smaller builders who were overwhelmed by the two-year recession. Full Story

 

 

St Louis Post-Dispatch Reporters Recogize Key Websites for St Louis Real Estate Content

02/15/2010 By Tim Logan ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

First off, a couple of new-ish sites that are focused on residential real estate here in St. Louis. The folks over at Kelsey Cottrell Realty recently launched St. Louis Real Estate Today, an excellent, data-heavy site dedicated to helping people figure out home prices, across neighborhoods and price ranges, at the local level here in St. Louis. Check it out. Full Story

 

 

Slump over for home construction here, builders say

02/05/2010 By Tim Bryant ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

The 2010 home-construction season that gets under way in a few weeks could mark the end of a shakeout that has forced several St. Louis builders to close shop in the past two years. Gone since early 2008 are mid-sized builders Mayer Homes, Taylor-Morley Homes, Bower & Bailey, Levinson Homes and Meyer Co. Whittaker Builders, a larger company whose big project is New Town at St. Charles, remains in business but is in bankruptcy. Full Story

 

 

Now may be the time to buy a house

01/30/2010 By Jim Gallagher ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

If you have a good job and good credit, the next few months might be a sweet time to go house hunting. Then again, maybe not. Fence-sitters take the risk that Congress may let a rich tax credit expire, and that interest rates may rise. Full Story

 

 

Breaking down 2009 home sales, county by county

01/26/2010 By Tim Logan ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

We had a short item in today’s paper, noting that home sales in the St. Louis region dipped 2.7 percent in 2009, compared to the year prior.  But as the saying goes, all real estate is local. Full Story

 

 

Opportunities Limited with Pending April 30 First-time and Existing Home Buyers Tax Credit Deadline

01/18/2010 By Kevin Cottrell for ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

The first-time homebuyers’ extended $8,000 tax credit expires April 30, 2010. In addition, the existing homebuyers’ tax credit of $6,500 also expires April 30, 2010.  Kevin Cottrell, co-founder and chief economist for Kelsey Cottrell Realty Group, recently said that if St. Louis home owners are considering selling their homes during the spring market and taking advantage of the tax credit this year Fully Story

 

 

St. Louis downtown high-rise is in limbo

01/14/2010 By Tim Bryant  ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Work on the Roberts Tower has slowed to a crawl, prompting questions about the future of downtown's first residential high-rise since the 1960s — questions, that for the most part, remain unanswered. Fully Story

 

 

Condo sales get boost from stalled projects

12/11/2009 St. Louis Business Journal - by Lisa R. Brown

The inability of some condo projects to launch is revving up sales at existing condo properties.  Several projects proposed at the height of the condo boom three years ago never materialized, from the SkyHouse downtown to the Valencia at The Boulevard in Richmond Heights. That’s welcome news to existing condo developments that were built before the real estate slowdown and have struggled to sell units during the economic downturn. Fully Story

 

 

High-End Homes wait for new buyers

12/04/2009 By Tim Bryant ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

When a job relocation sent Monsanto scientist Timothy Conner to the Sacramento area in July, his five-bedroom, 4 1/2-bath house in Chesterfield went on the market for almost $1 millon.  By Thanksgiving weekend, the price had fallen to $799,900 Full Story

 

 

Tax credit sparks surge in St. Louis-area home sales in Oct.

11/23/09 By Tim Logan ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

If low interest rates and the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers were designed to spark home sales, they appear to have done just that in October. Sales of existing homes in the St. Louis region jumped 27 percent for the month Full Story

 

 

What the $6,500 homebuyer tax credit means for you

11/05/2009 By David Grant Christian Science Monitor

The $8000 new homebuyer tax credit has been expanded through 2010 to include existing home owners at $6500. But why?

 During the first round of the government's homebuyer tax-credit program, only first-time purchasers could qualify for up to $8,000 in tax credits. But this time, many current homeowners could get in on the deal, too.  On Thursday, the House and Senate passed an extension of the popular homebuyer program that would allow people who have owned their homes for at least five years to buy a new home and get up to $6,500 off their tax bill.  Full Story

 

 

"Mortgage Modifications" Are Becoming More Common, and More Lenient

11/01/2009 By Jim Gallagher ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Banks and mortgage companies have foreclosed on 5,000 residential properties in the St. Louis region so far this year. But a growing number of homeowners are managing to save their houses by convincing lenders to cut their monthly payments. Full Story

 

 

Whittaker Builders files for bankruptcy

10/20/2009 By Tim Bryant ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

When Whittaker Builders Inc. developed New Town in St. Charles about four years ago, the company became one of the area's largest builders. The project's "new urbanist" concept also gave Whittaker a reputation for innovation.Whittaker now finds itself seeking bankruptcy protection Full Story

 

 

New Appraisal Rules Tangle Home Sales

07/10/2009 By Tim Logan ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

In theory, it's a good idea: Put some distance between lenders and home appraisers, so they can't collude to say a home is worth more than it should be.  Such collusion was a practice, many say, that happened too much during the housing boom, and contributed to the nasty hangover we've endured for two years now.  Full Story

 

 

St. Louis-area realty group offering job loss guarantee

06/30/2009 By Tim Logan  ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

We’ve seen it from car companies, landlords, even JetBlue Airways. Now a St. Louis-area real estate agency is launching a job loss protection program, to help spur sales in this intimidating economy. Full Story

 

 

Top Selling Real Estate Agents in St Louis

6/12/2009 St. Louis Business Journal

The St Louis Business Journal announced today in their 2008 Book of Lists the Top-Selling Residential Real Estate Agents in St Louis for 2008.  Kevin Cottrell from Kelsey Cottrell Realty was noted as #9 out of more than 8,000 realtors who are members of the St Louis Association of Realtors.

 

 

Fewer St. Louis foreclosures are ending up with the bank

04/10/2009 By Tim Logan ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

So maybe all those mortgage work-outs are working out.  That’s the view from at least one set of foreclosure data that we looked at recently.  In 2005, seven out of every eight people (87.46%) who defaulted on their mortgage in St. Louis City, County and St. Charles wound up losing their home to the bank. Full Story

 

 

Cottrell,Kelsey Realty Agencies merging

04/02/2009 by Tim Logan ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Two of the independent real estate agencies in St. Louis County said today they’re joining forces to create the region’s largest independent firm. Full Story

 

 

Cottrell to buy Kelsey Group, Relocation Results, Downtown Living

04/02/2009 - St. Louis Business Journal

Cottrell Realty Group said late Wednesday it is acquiring The Kelsey Group Realtors, along with Relocation Results and Downtown Living Realtors, an association of affiliated independent residential realty firms based in Chesterfield, Mo. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the move will combine 67 licensed agents Full Story

 

 

Consistency, Affordability Benefit St. Louis Market

Published 12/24/2008 by Allison Landa - NuWire Investor

Easy does it in St. Louis, where a less volatile market and traditionally affordable real estate stock have insulated the city from some of the market implosions in other parts of the country.  "Affordability is the number-one differentiator for the St. Louis market versus others in the country," says Kevin Cottrell, a principal at the Cottrell Realty Group who offers online observations on the St. Louis real estate market at his real estate blog.  Full Story

 

 

How to select a real estate agent - Buyers, sellers should look for agents with resources

08/29/08 St. Louis Business Journal - by Julia M. Johnson

Choosing a good real estate agent is a matter of locating a professional who understands the bigger picture as well as the smaller one.  “If you’re selling or buying a home, your agent should be knowledgeable about the overall market in St. Louis, as well as the micromarket surrounding the home in question,” Full Story

 

 

Housing downturn winnows area real estate agent field

St. Louis Association of Realtors counts 800 fewer agents than a year ago

08/01/2008 - St. Louis Business Journal - by Julia M. Johnson

Data shows that there are about 800 fewer St. Louis-area residential real estate agents now than there were a year ago, and professionals in the field say it's just a consequence of the industry's cyclical nature. Full Story

 

 

Condo minimum: Luxury condo sales down 66% in Saint Louis

06/27/2008 St. Louis Business Journal - by Lisa R. Brown

With more than three dozen condos priced above a half-million dollars for sale, Craig Saur is painfully aware of the sales slump that has plagued the luxury condo market so far this year. Saur's Conrad Properties has 37 unsold luxury condo units in two developments, Maryland Walk in Clayton and the 4545 Lindell building in the Central West End, that are priced at or above $500,000 -- the mark real estate professionals say is the starting point for the luxury condo sector in St. Louis. Full Story

 

 

Saint Louis Homebuyers, sellers should look for agents with resources

02/29/2008 - St. Louis Business Journal - by Julia M. Johnson

Choosing a good real estate agent is a matter of locating a professional who understands the bigger picture as well as the smaller one. "If you're selling or buying a home, your agent should be knowledgeable about the overall market in St. Louis, Full Story

 

 

Additional Sources for St Louis Real Estate News

 

St Louis Blockshopper

St Louis Post-Dispatch Building Blocks Blog