Home prices cool in Belleville, other metro-east areas. Is now the right time to buy?
Home prices and total sales are falling, a national trend that is reflected at the local level in St. Clair County and other areas in the metro-east.
But is it a sign the housing market is finally easing for exasperated home buyers or is this just a seasonal dip that won’t mean much long-term?
“The housing sector continues to undergo an adjustment due to the continuous rise in interest rates, which eclipsed 6% for 30-year fixed mortgages in September and are now approaching 7%,” National Association of Realtors’ Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a housing market report released Thursday.
“Expensive regions of the country are especially feeling the pinch and seeing larger declines in sales,” Yun said.
Home prices cool nationwide, realtors association reports
According to the NAR, the median home price for all housing types in September stood at $384,800, roughly 8% higher than the price in September 2021, which was $355,100.
That said, it’s much lower than the record high of $413,800 set in June.
There have been 127 straight months of year-over-year increases in median home sale prices, which represents the longest streak on record, according to the NAR.
September marked the third consecutive month median sales price faded from its June peak, though home prices do tend to fall off after peaking in the early summer, the association notes.
Where do home prices stand in St. Clair and nearby counties?
Median home sale prices in St. Clair County took a dive earlier this month when they stood at $220,000, according to data pulled from the brokerage site Redfin.
That downward trend has persisted throughout this month; median home sale price stood at $193,300 as of Oct. 10, Redfin county-metro data shows.
An earlier peak for median home sale prices in St. Clair County reached $241,500 in July, and it’s been falling relatively steadily since cresting.
Median home sale prices in outlying Washington County, however, have been much more unstable in comparison. In Washington County, median home sale prices reached the Olympian height of $440,000 Oct. 3, Redfin’s data show.
It’s since fallen off a cliff, precipitously dropping to $164,000 as of Oct. 10.
Here’s a more long-term look at median home sale prices in St. Clair, Madison and Washington counties, sourced from Redfin:
Note: This graphic will automatically update as new data become available.
Zooming into Belleville itself, the housing market here is deemed “somewhat competitive” by a Redfin analysis. The brokerage site assigned it a score of 62 out of 100, with 100 being the most competitive housing market. The score is calculated over a three-month period.
Fewer homes sold in St. Clair County this month (143) than in September (279), and it’s been on a sharp decline since August, when 417 homes sold. Total home sales are generally behind those that took place in 2021, reflecting a tougher market for home buyers.
Note: This graphic will automatically update as new data become available.
Despite the downward trend in the short-term, a shortage of housing supply is likely to put consistent upward pressure on home prices, at the local level and nationwide.
“Despite weaker sales, multiple offers are still occurring with more than a quarter of homes selling above list price due to limited inventory,” Yun, the NAR economist, said. “The current lack of supply underscores the vast contrast with the previous major market downturn from 2008 to 2010, when inventory levels were four times higher than they are today.”