St Louis Real Estate Statistics for 2013

Statistics aren’t really that boring you know. They do tell a story. As a consumer, it is best to remember that knowledge is power when it comes to buying but don’t let it paralyze you. Another reminder is that all real estate is local. It just adds a little more interest to compare ourselves to the national market.

Research from the National Association of Relators indicates that most of the metropolitan areas (164 in the report) experienced a strong price growth in the 4th quarter of 2013. Affordability, however, was less favorable, especially in the west. The median single family home price increased in 119 out of the 164 measured markets based on closings in the 4th quarter of 2013 compared with the 4th quarter of 2012. 42 areas had double-digit increases, 2 were unchanged and 43 recorded lower median prices. The West is experiencing the bulk of the affordability issues.

The 3rd quarter of 2013 was more robust with 88% (vs 73% in the 4th quarter) showing rising prices from a year earlier and 33% rising at double-digit numbers. These numbers are indicators of a slow down in price growth.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said there are two ways of looking at the price gains. “The vast majority of homeowners have seen significant gains in equity over the past two years, which is helping the economy through increased consumer spending,” he said. “At the same time, home prices have been rising faster than incomes, while mortgage interest rates are above the record lows of a year ago. This is beginning to hamper housing affordability.” (source: National Association of Realtors)

The national median existing single-family home price was $196,900 in the fourth quarter, up 10.1 percent from $178,900 in the fourth quarter of 2012. In the third quarter the median price rose 12.5 percent from a year earlier. (The median price is where half sold for more and half sold for less)

The median home price for St Louis was $130,300 at the end of the 4th quarter which represented a 11.1% increase over 2o12 vs a median price of $136600 at the end of the 2nd quarter of 2013.

The National Association of Realtors’ Affordability index is calculated on the relationship between median home prices, median family incomes and the average effective mortgage interest rate. The higher the index, the stronger the borrowing power. The average affordability index dropped in 2o13 from 196.5 in 2012 (highest on record) to 175.8 in 2013. The affordability index for St Louis was 293.4 in 2012 and 269.6 in 2013. Wow!

NAR’s Housing Affordability Index, calculated on the relationship between median home prices, median family incomes, and the average effective mortgage interest rate, dropped to 175.8 in 2013 from a record high of 196.5 in 2012. The higher the index, the stronger household purchasing power is, according to NAR.

The grids below give a month by month average sale price and the months of inventory. The numbers for the metropolitan area of St Louis show that the average sale price for St Louis county was down a tad in average sale price from 2012 at $196,535 for 2013. The months of inventory was down to an average of 4 in 2013 vs 5.85 in 2012. (Months of Inventory is the number of months it would take to sell the current inventory) We definitely have a lack of inventory.

St Louis City numbers for the last 10 years are in the grid below. The city pretty much followed suit with the county. The average sale price was down a little and the months of inventory was also down a little. Not bad for the urban part of our metropolitan area.