Last month, when real estate agent Brian Elsesser was working with a client seeking to buy a home in Ladue, Elsesser knew they’d have to be aggressive. “A lot of the houses that were $700,000, $800,000 two years ago are now going for $1 million,” he says. “And they’re all going over asking price and contingencies are getting dropped like crazy.”
Elsesser’s client was on board. They offered $1.2 million cash, $50,000 over the asking price. They still didn’t get it. “There were four offers,” Elsesser reports. “And we came in at No. 4.”
And so it goes in St. Louis’ real estate market. Agents say tight inventory continues to make this a sellers’ market, even as other cities are starting to favor buyers. In St. Louis city and county, the median sale price in March climbed 10.7 percent from the prior year, which already reflected years of steady increases. A four- to six-month supply of homes is considered a balanced market; the city and county have just a two-month supply, according to a report from St. Louis REALTORS. That may be one reason that pending single-family home sales dropped 7.3 percent last month from the year prior…