St Charles MO Real Estate Update
The Saint Charles County county real estate market struggled in 2009 according to data released by the St Charles Association of Realtors. The market has been especially hard hit in the luxury price ranges above $600,000 according an article in the St Louis Post Dispatch. Through October of 2009, according to MLS sales data, there were no sales in three separate St. Charles luxury home price ranges — $575,000-$600,000, $700,001-$750,000 and $950,000-$1Million. Currently, based on recent absorption numbers – the market has between 36 and 48 months of inventory in the price ranges above $575,000 and $900,000 respectively.
Difficult real estate conditions in St Charles have resulted in numerous development project failures including the bankruptcy filing by Whittaker Homes in 2009 – developer of the New Town project in St Charles, the largest planned development project in St Charles County.
Whittaker Homes is the St Charles area’s largest builder with home developments in Wentzville, Lake Saint Louis and Shiloh, Ill. Whittaker’s signature development project – and biggest far- is New Town in St. Charles. The mammoth project is home to about 2,500 residents in over 900 homes, townhouses and apartments. The village type community is made up of a number of residences, most located on dense small lots situated along a traditional grid of streets. The New Town development was designed to entice residents who are eager to purchase a Saint Charles home where they can walk within their community directly to local shops, restaurants and schools.
The St Charles real estate market, a part of the greater St Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area, is considerably weaker than average in terms of market statistics such as median housing prices. While real estate market conditions in other parts of the Saint Louis Metro area improved in 2009, median prices for homes in the St Charles area continue to remain below the same period last year. The median price of St. Charles in December of 2009 was $168,000 as compared to the median house price of $182,500 in December 2008 – a decline of 7.95%.
Sales fell 8.7% in St Charles as compared to the overall home sales decline for the entire St. Louis area of 2.7 percent in 2009, a decline led by a widely anticipated decline in December following the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit.