Friday, January 12, 2007

Downtown Sales in December

Loft buying SantaAround Christmas, I always found myself watching Miracle on 34th Street with my family. A Santa that buy's real estate is something I can really get into.

This December, Santa's gift to the downtown real estate market may have been a decent drop in the interest rates and the end of all the bubble nonsense. Who know's?

Here are the sales as reported on the MLS for the month of December.

1123 Washington #402-----------------------------------------$154,900
2020 Washington #303-----------------------------------------$166,500
1136 Washington #310-----------------------------------------$177,000
1709 Washington #600-----------------------------------------$184,900
1720 Choteau #305--------------------------------------------$185,000
721 N 17th St #402---------------------------------------------$217,700
1136 Washington #406-----------------------------------------$218,500
1619 Washington #304-----------------------------------------$234,900
2201 Locust St. #410------------------------------------------$235,588
901 Washington #603-----------------------------------------$251,865
901 Washington #506-----------------------------------------$254,752
901 Washington #611-----------------------------------------$290,000
901 Washington #702-----------------------------------------$355,265
901 Washington #501-----------------------------------------$355,677
901 Washington #609-----------------------------------------$384,207
901 Washington #401-----------------------------------------$399,279
1123 Washington #203-----------------------------------------$423,345
1123 Washington #203-----------------------------------------$450,000
1136 Washington #906-----------------------------------------$525,000

Check out all the details here!

2006 Market Data Pierces Bubble Myth Downtown

real estate bubbleIn 2006, Scottrade bought the naming rights to the Kiel Center. I think the stock brokerage industry may have bought most of the media too. All the talk of the real estate bubble finally bursting forced its way into the psyche of prospective homebuyer's everywhere. They say all's well that ends well, and that really describes our downtown real estate market for the year 2006.

Year--#Sold-------$/Sq Ft----Ave.Days on Market-------Ave.Price
2006----221-------$164---------------93--------------$223,063
2005-----121----------$156-----------------209-----------------$256,678
2004------84----------$141-----------------233-----------------$187,976
2003------53----------$135-----------------170-----------------$214,890
2002------25----------$121-----------------248-----------------$186,674
2001------19----------$104-----------------194-----------------$233,908


The above data was taken off the local multiple listings service. This service, of course, doesn't include all the downtown sales in this past year, or in any year. I do agree with the trend that more lofts are selling and downtown population continues to increase.

My personal experience this past year was working with fewer first-time home buyer's and more mature and experienced buyer's. While there has been a great deal of talk about the I-64 reconstruction amongst buyer's, it seems that fact hasn't been the primary motivator of our typical buyer. As this year continues and lane closures begin, I'd be suprised if the number of buyer's with traffic concerns didn't increase exponentially.

One interesting piece of data that isn't included above, was that the average size of unit dropped from 1690 sq ft to 1453 sq ft. This is undoubtedly because of the number of smaller new construction units hitting the market this year. That trend should continue as The Adler Lofts and Ventana lofts near completion.

Look for more Downtown St. Louis Loft information throughout the year. Exciting things are going to happen.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Downtown St. Louis Partnership Meeting sets record

Downtown St. LouisToday's meeting of the Downtown St. Louis Partnership and BOMA reportedly had a record attendance this year. The banquet room at the newly renovated Ballpark Hilton was packed. Never before has the topic been so pertinent to so many people. The highway 64/40 re-construction project doesn't seem to bother the people who have already embraced urban living. The majority remaining is running scared.

The meeting today seemed to cover mostly information that has already been made public. Of interest was the question and answer period where there seemed to be great support for incorporating plans for another Metrolink extension along with the highway plan.

The way I see it, with so much money going into this project and it having such a long term effect on our region, why not include mass transit? Avoiding the issue seems short sighted.

All and all it was a good program. The schedule and details presented can also be found on the MoDOT website.