PDF Across the St. Louis region, the majority of homes selling in 2008 and 2009 have been priced under $200,000.
Even with the daily bad economic news, people have continued to buy homes throughout 2008 and 2009. However, buyers concerned about the economy clearly made conservative spending choices. Homes appropriate for first time buyers and investors made up a big portion of the sales in the last 2 years.
2009 Home Sales:
Take a look below to see the differences in sales distribution of single family homes for University City and St. Louis County. The charts below include residential sales that closed between in 2009 and were listed in the MLS. The data is obtained through MARIS and deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
2009 Report Summary:
There isn’t much of a demand across the region for high priced homes. However, University City has a more gradual decrease as prices go up compared to St. Louis County.
In University, the home sale distribution breaks down as:
- 38% of sales were under $100,000 (compared to 37% for St. Louis County)
- 19% of sales were between $100-200k (compared to 33% for St. Louis County)
- 16% of sales were between $200-300k (compared to 15% for St. Louis County)
- 14% of sales were between $300-400k (compared to 7% for St. Louis County)
- 7% of sales were between $400-500k (compared to 3% for St. Louis County)
- 3% of sales were between $500-600k (compared to 2% for St. Louis County)
- 3% of sales were between $600-800k (compared to 2% for St. Louis County)
- 1% of sales were between $800-$1mm (equal level of sales in St. Louis County)
- 0% of sales were over $1mm (compared to 1% for St. Louis County)
With 3 in 4 University City home sales priced under $300,000, sellers with higher priced homes don’t have a very large buyer pool.
Then combine that with the fact that only 4% of St. Louis County buyers are purchasing in University City, and it’s clear that every home seller is looking for a needle in a haystack buyer.
If you are trying to sell, you can’t afford to overprice your home and miss out on the few buyers that are out there.
More University City housing market statistics…
How Long Does it Take to Sell a Home?
Contrary to popular opinion, there are homes that are selling quickly. Just over 3 in 10 homes sold in 30 days or less, and slightly more than half of the homes sold in 60 days or less.
I work hard to price my home listings correctly on day 1, and then extensively market the homes using today’s newest technologies to reach internet searching buyers. The result is that my listings sell quicker and closer to the list price than the general market.
What does all this mean?
If you are trying to sell a home, there just aren’t a lot of buyers. You need to consider pricing your home aggressively if you hope to get it sold. If you don’t need to move, it might be smarter to stay put for a year or two until sales pick up in your price range.
If you are trying to buy a home, don’t be surprised if you end up competing with other buyers if you are looking at the same price range as the majority of buyers. If you are in a position to purchase a higher priced home, you should be able to find a great deal.
To see market statistic charts for other parts of the St. Louis region, visit the Arch City Homes housing market reports by community or zip code.
Check back for Part 2 of this series covering condo sale prices.
Possibly related posts:
