Robust numbers seen this year in area real-estate market

The local residential real estate market appears poised to experience a very good year in 2015 if current statistical trends continue.

Data from the Cape Girardeau County Mulitple Listing Service, representing the county from Jan. 1 through May 31, show the number of home sales and average and median sale prices are up this year compared to the same period in 2014. The number of bank-owned homes in the MLS also has fallen in 2015.

Bill Cole, broker and owner of Realty Executives of Cape County, who also serves as MLS president, said the area has seen a strengthening residential real-estate market for several consecutive years, including improvements in 2011, 2012 and 2013, then an even year in 2014.

So far in 2015, home sales during the first five months of the year look promising, he said, with 11 percent more homes sold during a January-through-May period this year than in 2014.

Tim Merideth, owner of Century 21 Ashland Realty in Cape Girardeau and Premiere Realty in Sikeston, Missouri, said his company is on track to have its best year, and his 70 agents are working with more buyers today than at any time since the housing market collapse in 2007 and 2008.

"There is a renewed interest," Merideth said. "For a couple years during the recession, people didn't really want to talk about housing. They felt they had been burned because the value of their property was not the same as when they bought it. There was a little bit of ill will, but I think things are turning around."

Merideth said an older generation of people seems more willing to put homes on the market as their property has reclaimed some of its value. At the same time, many people are looking to step out and trade up for a larger home.

Improvement in the local economy by way of a falling unemployment rate may have buyers entering the market.

Unemployment in Cape Girardeau County during April was 4.7 percent, according to data from the state compiled by the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center. The county's unemployment rate in April 2014 was 5.5 percent.

The average unemployment rate of 13 counties in the Southeast Missouri region in April was 6.3 percent, up slightly from 6.1 percent during the same month last year.

Cole said still-low interest rates, coupled with the residential market slightly short on inventory and higher property values, makes now a good time for buyers and sellers.

Both brokers reported their individual companies could use more listings than are available.

As of May 31, there were 553 homes on the local market, a 2 percent increase over the same time last year, but 70 were under contract in a "pending continue to show status," Cole said, which signaled inspections, appraisals and other contingencies in the works. Cole also said inventory is down about 15 percent since 2010.

Merideth said buyers, in some cases, are looking for features not available in properties on the market -- for example, amenities such as outdoor kitchens.

Cole said he sees buyers in the city of Cape Girardeau moving toward a "less is more approach" in selecting a home. In other words, he said, "they want nice, but less to take care of."

Another popular request among area buyers, Cole said, is a residential property with about three acres and a shop, out from town a little ways. Those properties can be hard to find, he said.

Various economic factors and this year's numbers have Cole thinking the market will stay improved, though potentially not staying at the 11 percent increase in home sales seen now. He said he expects 2015 home sales in the area may end up about 8 percent higher than in 2014 when all 12 months are accounted for.

Cole bases that on numbers he tracked during the latter half of 2014. After a slow start early in 2014 because of extreme winter weather, the market caught up and steadied, he said.

The latest available market report from Missouri Realtors, a statewide trade association, shows widespread improvement in the residential market.

The report, which compares statewide home-sales statistics from April 2015 with April 2014, shows an 8.1 percent increase in the number of residential properties sold; a higher residential average sale price, up 16 percent; a higher residential median sales price, up 10 percent; and a dollar volume increase of 25.3 percent, totaling more than $1.1 billion.

The average "sold price" right now in Cape Girardeau County is $168,151, up 3.8 percent compared to last May; the median "sold price" is up 1.2 percent to $136,500.

The average unsold inventory list price also has risen to $228,553 from $213,264 at the same time last year.

eragan@semissourian.com

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