What can you say about 2020? There was no predicting this year - a year we will never forget. Home sales began the year strong, as the 2019-20 winter market had not softened much. First quarter sales were trending up, and then in March, St Louis County and City were hit with stay-at-home orders except for essential work and travel, due to COVID-19. This slowed home sales to a crawl for 6 weeks, but our industry, along with supporting businesses, was allowed to operate. In late April a thaw began that turned into a steady flow in May once the restrictions were loosened. In June, it turned into a torrent as home sales took off like a rocket, and only slightly let up in the fall, overcoming the high spike in unemployment and job furloughs.

The days-on-market (DOM) and home supply did not jump up in March and April, and prices did not fall, as many sellers held off, balancing the drop in buyers. As sellers felt more comfortable again in May, the buyers were already there. Mortgage rates dropped to all-time lows in the 2s, fueling high demand along with the pandemic-inspired moves. The DOM and inventory dropped quickly thru summer, and prices spiked up. Spring was delayed into summer, and fall into winter. The market did not slow down this winter, and I consider us already into an early spring 2021 market.

My calculations taken from Multiple Listing Service show a St Louis area price increase of 6.8% for the year, near or at the highest I can recall in the last 30 years, to $274,893. The highest submarket price jump is North County at 12% which ran only 3.7% in 2019. Still the most affordable in the metro, the $120,622 average home price is highly attractive here, supported by the 100% list price to sale price ratio (LP/SP) and below average DOM and inventory. Note: As 5 of the 7 submarkets list exactly 100% LP/SP in MLS, it seems evident that the system calculations do not register over 100%, so my figures are limited in that capacity. Half of my own listings in 2020 sold at or over list price, so I know many others did as well.

Second submarket in price jump was Jefferson County with 8.8%, following the top rate of 7.4% in 2019. Its average price was 2nd lowest in the region in 2017-18 but has moved higher than St Louis City since then with $212,518 in 2020. Jeff Co had the largest drop in inventory and DOM among the 7 submarkets, indicating fast-increasing demand. St Charles County clocks in 3rd highest with 7.9% appreciation, a nice follow up to its #2 ranking in 2019 with 6.6%. St Chuck had the lowest DOM with 31, high LP/SP and below average inventory, and $283,081 ave price. The City with 6.8% barely beat out South County at 6.7%, both sporting 100% LP/SP or higher, but So Co holding the metro crown for lowest inventory and 2nd lowest DOM, while the city had 2nd highest inventory and above ave DOM. City price averages $208,125 and So Co $226,860, both attractive, plus closer-in locations.

That leaves the 2 highest priced markets in the region, West County at $390,759 and the Central Corridor at $455,213. West County had below average appreciation of 5.7% (still pretty darn good) after a lower 3.8% in 2019, with the highest inventory rate in the area with DOM being 2nd highest. Homes under $500,000 still move very quickly here, many receiving multiple offers, and LP/SP at 99.7%. But even with the $500k+ selling pretty well last year, the upper end takes a bit longer and does not have the same level of demand that forces a higher price increase like those under $500k. Same thing along the central spine inside 270, the expensive Central Corridor had the lowest appreciation rate of 4.0%, the lowest LP/SP at 99.2% (still not coming off the price much), and the highest DOM at 53 with an average inventory. Again, homes under $500k sell very fast here with many competing buyers, but the amount of higher priced homes keep the average stats muted. Additionally, if more homes under the $450k average sell, which likely happened here, that keeps the average increase down. So don't worry Kirkwood, your appreciation rate was very likely higher than 4%.

Some personal 2020 stats: All of my listings sold and closed last year, the market average was 87%. My average DOM was 27 (market 41), and median DOM was 8 (market 17). In fact, half of my listings sold on market debut weekend, the DOM reflect pre-marketing and contract negotiating time. Half of my listings had competing offers and one third had escalation clauses. Two thirds of my listings sold near or set record prices for their subdivision model. I closed 23 sales (14 sellers/ 9 buyers) averaging $329,575 including 4 relocations and 2 new construction. My brokerage firm finished #147 out of 794 in St Louis (last year #187), placing it in the Top 20% of STL firms. This was my best year in 30 years for sales volume and revenues, and I thank everyone who chose my as their Realtor or referred me to someone.

As good as the year was for me, I realize that many folks had a very difficult year. My wife and I ordered from restaurants more often, took precautions to limit the virus spread, and gave more to charitable organizations personally and thru my company than ever before, and I wish everyone the best for 2021.