Homeowners in default on their mortgages and underwater mortgage holders trouble the housing markets in Missouri, pressuring home prices as foreclosures pile-up. Distress sales are 
increasing in most of the state even as many residents leave its major cities to seek work elsewhere.
Foreclosures are a major issue in St. Louis, home to the Mississippi River where huge ships coast down the river carrying supplies for industries to manufacture goods in the Mid-West. The level of distressed homeowners is nearly one in four. However, home sales are increasing because of lower mortgage borrowing rates and discounted home prices.
The value of homes and condos are forecast to slip another 4.6% in 2012, even as sales rise in St. Louis. In Kansas City, Missouri sales are on the upside as bargain hunters search for deals. Homes have been falling in value for five years, where older 3 and 4-bedroom houses can be picked up for as little as $5,000 each.
| City | Forecast |
|---|---|
| Kansas City | -3.6% |
| St. Louis | -4.6% |
| Columbia | -3.2% |
| Springfield | -2.4% |
The drop in housing prices in this area of the Mid-West has been nothing short of alarming, with vacant properties climbing as more and more mortgage holders have no other choice other than to walk away from their homes. Unemployment and high underemployment are hurting Kansas City, Missouri which is forecast to witness housing prices drop another 3.6% in 2012.
In Springfield, a community of just 160,000 is the center of the quiet Mid-West life-style for many local residents. The housing market had never seen major ups and downs until the real estate bubble produced a wealth of home sales four straight years. Over the past two years the market has been unwinding, with slower sales. Home prices are projected to slide another 2.4% in 2012.
Springfield had hardly ever seen foreclosures until recently, and neither had Columbia. The housing market has seen home values drop as a result of the pressures from homeowners losing their homes because they couldn’t make the mortgage payments. The cost for artificial appreciation manufactured on Wall Street and the banking industry comes at a high price, and is costing millions of homeowners their homes.
As the market makes adjustments to the course of events playing out in the economy, home sales should increase in Columbia in 2012, but prices will drop another projected 3.2% in 2012.