PDF Across the St. Louis region, the majority of properties selling in 2008 and 2009 have been priced under $200,000.
Though plenty of single family homes sold under $100,000, the numbers are dramatically lower for dirt cheap condos. Regardless of the county, the majority of condos are selling between $100,000 – $200,000.
2009 Condo Sales:
Take a look below to see the differences in sales distribution of condos for University City and St. Louis County. The charts below include condo and villa 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 was a dramatic difference between condo and single family home sales in 2009.
With only 2,702 closed condo sales across all 3 counties, there was a very low demand for condos compared to single family homes (17,645 closed sales). With only 13% of closed sales in the condo category, it’s simply much harder to sell a condo than it is a single family home.
In University, the condo sale distribution breaks down as:
- 11% of sales were under $100,000 (compared to 25% for St. Louis County)
- 58% of sales were between $100-200k (compared to 54% for St. Louis County)
- 17% of sales were between $200-300k (compared to 11% for St. Louis County)
- 8% of sales were between $300-400k (compared to 4% for St. Louis County)
- 6% of sales were between $400-500k (compared to 2% for St. Louis County)
- 0% of sales were between $500-600k (compared to 2% for St. Louis County)
- 0% of sales were between $600-800k (compared to 2% for St. Louis County)
- 0% of sales were between $800-$1mm (compared to 1% for St. Louis County)
- 0% of sales were over $1mm (with only 5 sales out of 1508 for St. Louis County, it rounds to 0% )
With 3 in 4 University City condo sales priced under $300,000, sellers with higher priced condos 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 everycondo 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 Condo?
Compared to home sales where just over half of the closed sales got a contract in 60 days or less, condos take a much longer time to sell. Sellers who don’t sell in the first month, should be prepared to take a long time to sell. With 4 in 10 sellers taking over 4 months to sell, pricing a condo right on day 1 is critical in the current market.
I work hard to price my listings correctly at the outset, 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, check out the Arch City Homes housing market reports by community or zip code.
Visit Arch City Homes to see a full report for the 2009 St. Louis condo market for the region.
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