NEED TO KNOW - MORTGAGE INFORMATION

Home Owners:



Additional Information:

Missouri Real Estate Market: When will Home Values Return?

Missouri’s housing market has seen better times. The price for a single-family home in Missouri is far less than the national average. Unemployment is higher than the national average, and there is a glut of bank-owned properties that are likely to hit the market this year.

Have we Hit Rock Bottom yet?

You, along with other home owners and real estate agents, may be wondering: when will the Missouri real estate market hit rock bottom? After all, it must hit rock bottom so that prices can begin leveling off and rising once again.

Here are the numbers: the median price for a home in St. Louis is now $116,000, while the national average is $166,733. Home sales in Missouri stand at 4.6 percent, but the national rate is 11.4 percent. The unemployment rate in Missouri is 10.9 percent, and the national unemployment rate is 9.7 percent.

Doesn’t do too much for consumer confidence, does it?

Where are Home Values Headed?

There is a great inventory of homes that must be sold by banks in Missouri. As of now, the subprime mortgages make up a large share of the Missouri housing market, and rising prime foreclosures are working on becoming a big problem in this state.

According to the Fiserv Case-Shiller Analysis, the Missouri housing market has its peak in the first quarter of 2007 and is not expected to return to its peak until the fourth quarter of 2014.

In an effort to help stimulate the economy, the Missouri Housing Development Commission set aside $15 million to spur home sales in Missouri.

State Incentive Floundering

Called the Homeowners Purchase Enhancement Program (HOPE), this program was created to give homebuyers up to $1,250 if they bought a new home. However, of the $15 set aside, just $3 million has been given away.

Although this program appears to be a valuable incentive to someone interested in buying a home, the numbers don’t lie; Missouri residents simply aren’t taking advantage of the incentive.

St. Louis is a prime example of the situation in Missouri. Mortgage delinquencies are continuing to rise, and pending homes sales are declining. In fact, home sales declined 30 percent in May alone.

These activities could very well mean that lower home values are inevitable. Although a lot depends on interest rates and local market conditions, one fact is definitive: the real estate market in St. Louis and throughout Missouri is showing signs of bottoming out.

If you own a home in Missouri, the road ahead is uncertain in terms of home pricing. Many experts predict that this state is entering a bull market, considering the increase of affordable homes in the market and record-low interest rates, but that remains to be seen. The abundance of homes on the market, which is mainly due to record foreclosures, may very well continue to beat down home values, leaving Missouri in quite a predicament.

10 Largest Cities in Missouri: