St. Charles County's real estate market, wounded by the economic downturn, is showing signs of recovery, particularly in Wentzville.
That's according to two representatives of the St. Charles County Association of Realtors who last week discussed real estate and housing trends with the Wentzville Board of Aldermen. The association represents about 1,300 Realtors.
While sales and new housing starts are not as high as they were before the recession, they are on the upswing, association President-elect Cheri Peterson told the board during its Aug. 1 meeting. Much of that increase has to do with historically low interest rates.
"All in all, the bottom line is that it can be cheaper to buy a house than rent one," Peterson said. Low interest rates can also increase the affordability of higher priced homes.
"The last time we had interest rates like this was during the Eisenhower administration," said Mark Stallmann, the association's chief executive officer.
The Mid America Regional Information System (MARIS), used by the association to track real estate activity, shows sales and new home starts during the first half of 2012 in St. Charles County were up from the same period in 2011, they said.
Stallmann said 2,249 single-family homes and condominiums were sold in the county during the first six months of this year, up from 1,885 for the same period in 2011. The median home price was $156,000, an increase of 1.23 percent from the first half of last year. Last year, 4,036 homes were sold in the county, he said.
MARIS provides a breakdown of sales based on high school attendance areas. In the Wentzville School District, 300 homes were sold in the area served by Holt High School during the first six months of the year, compared to 267 for the same period in 2011, Stallmann said. The average home price was $165,000, down about 2 percent from the first half of 2011.
In the Timberlake High School attendance area, 292 homes were sold in the first half of the year, compared to 247 for the same period in 2011. The median home price was $165,255, down about 3 percent.
New home construction permits issued in the county during the first half of the year were up by about 25 percent — 696, compared to 559 for the first half of 2011, Stallmann said. In Wentzville, new housing permits increased by 53 percent — 171 in the first half of this year, compared to 112 in the same period a year ago.
Foreclosures remain a factor in sales activity and in limiting new construction, Peterson said. Buyers are finding relatively new homes with many amenities that owners walked away from and are being sold at lower prices.
"This is my opinion — once we clean up some of this inventory and get these houses under contract, we going to start to see more new construction," Peterson said.
Alderman Chris Gard, Ward 2, asked what home builders are building now and whether the city should be checking on what attracts home buyers to Wentzville.
Stallmann and Peterson said buyers are returning to smaller, more economical homes. They are less interested in high-priced two-story, four-bedroom "McMansions" or "mega homes."
Homes with a $100,000 to $150,000 price tag often receive multiple offers, Peterson said. "If they pop up on the market, they usually don't last more than a week," she said.
Some very high-priced homes also are selling, she said.
Peterson said builders should be looking at putting up more ranch houses that are cheaper. "You've got to build what people are looking for," she said.
It could take some time to sell off the inventory of existing and foreclosed homes and build out existing lots in Wentzville. Doug Forbeck, the city's community development director, said there are 1,400-1,500 vacant lots where streets and other infrastructure are in place, and thousands of platted lots — perhaps as many as 10,000 — with no improvements.
Board President Rick Stokes, Ward 3, said if sales average about 300 to 350 homes per year — a standard figure often used — it could take about five years to go through the city's inventory of ready lots. That's a bit less than a few years ago when 1,500 homes were being sold each year in Wentzville, Stokes said.
Stallmann said the county, however, might not have as far to go in recovering from a poor housing market than other areas of the country that were harder hit.
Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/stcharles/news/st-charles-county-realtors-see-signs-of-market-recovery/article_17bf5953-ac25-5057-9c21-33b2d737317b.html#ixzz22t1yvQkz
