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Missouri’s Real Estate Market Shows Signs Of Life

A for sale sign in Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Jacob McCleland
/
KRCU

Missouri real estate sales were up by 13 percent in August, as compared to August 2011. That’s according to a new report from the Missouri Association of Realtors.

August marked the eighth consecutive month that sales had increased year-over-year.

Missouri Association of Realtors CEO Russ Cofano says sale prices were decreasing early this year, but began to increase since the springtime.

“Now our price increases have not been significantly huge, but they have been going up,” Cofano said. “In August as an example of what’s been going on the last three or four months, the average selling price rose 5.4 percent compared to August of last year.”

Cofano credits improved consumer confidence and low interest rates.

Regionally, the real estate market was more of a mixed bag. In Cape Girardeau, Perry, Bollinger and northern Scott Counties, home sales grew by 9 percent in August as compared to the same month last year. But most that growth comes from the city of Jackson, where home sales climbed by 26 percent. The city of Cape Girardeau saw a one percent decrease.

Dave Soto is the owner of Soto Property Solutions and president of the Cape Girardeau County Board of Realtors. He says the area’s conservative lending nature has kept Southeast Missouri from spiking too far up or down.

“The trends are moving in the right direction. Up is a good direction,” Soto said. “The speed that we’re looking at might not be what people would like to see, but then again we didn’t drop down like the rest of the country as far as declines in property values.”

The average regional sale price in August was $146,805, which is up by 6 percent from a year ago.

Thus far, year-to-date home sales in Missouri are up by 15 percent as compared to the same time last year.