2015 Missouri Real Estate and Housing Market Predictions

Missouri Real Estate
You can check out incredible sights like this in the St Louis MO real estate market. Source: Flickr

The Missouri real estate market is relatively healthy due to an increase in selling prices that began last year and carried over into 2015. However Zillow sees the market as less than healthy according to its Market Health Index. This index shows the health of a state’s market compared to other markets across the United States. The Market Health Index uses up to 10 metrics including: past and projected home values, foreclosures, foreclosure re-sales, negative equity, and delinquency. With all this taken into account the Zillow Market Health Index ranks Missouri at 4.3 out of 10.

Despite this low grade the state is following suit with the rest of the country in terms of market value trends. The 2015 housing market in Missouri looks to continue its upward trajectory. On real estate websites such as Realtor.com, Zillow, and Trulia Missouri is showing an increase in home appreciation. While some parts of the country have their prices rising faster, Missouri’s home values are rising at a slower clip. But because of the lower home values and cost of living, Missouri is a great place for first time homebuyers.

CHECK OUT THE STATS FROM LAST YEAR’S 2014 MISSOURI REAL ESTATE MARKET

Missouri Real Estate
You can check out incredible sights like this in the St Louis MO real estate market!
Source: Flickr

Missouri is very much a “middle of the road” state. The property values are not the most expensive, but also not the lowest. Home appreciation rates are rising at a steady pace, and the per capita income ranks 26th in the country. Where Missouri does rank high is in its agriculture industry. The state ranks near the top in the country in almost all agriculture categories such as hogs, cattle, soy, and rice. In fact Missouri has the largest number of farms of any state minus Texas. Agriculture makes up a large portion of employment in the state. But, Missouri is also seeing a growth in the science and biotechnology fields, which will ultimately create new jobs and have a positive influence on the value of the Missouri real estate in the future.

Influencing Factors for the 2015 Missouri Housing Market

  • According to Zillow the home value price for Missouri is currently $131,400. This is a 3.4% increase from a year ago. Housing market predictions forecast this number rising another 3.1% in the next year.
  • Median list prices for all Missouri homes is $139, 000 (as of February of 2015).
  • On rental websites such as rentfinder.com and Craigslist Missouri has a median rent price of $900. This is far below the national average.
  • Percentage of delinquent mortgages in the Missouri real estate market is 3.3%, which is lower than the national average of 6%. This is a positive indicator that the housing market in the state is improving.
  • Homes spend an average of 73 days listed on Zillow. Average listing time is 46 to 55 days. This shows that the real estate market in Missouri isn’t quite booming, but the listing time in Missouri has decreased steadily in the past 2 years.

Best Places to Live in Missouri

Currently, the St Louis MO real estate market is considered cold. Homes in this market list at an average price of $120,000 but has an average sale price of $155,000. If homes are selling for higher than what they’re listed at it must mean that supply is low. So why is the market considered low? One reason is that 30.4% of homes in St. Louis have negative equity. This is double the national average of 15.4%. This means that the homeowner owes more on their home than it’s actually worth. On Zillow St Louis MO has a home value index of $96,800 (considerably lower than the average selling price which explains some of the negative equity). On the flip side this home value in St. Louis has increased 3.6% over the past year. Forecasts see this positive trend continuing, however the pace is expected to slow down. A 1.5% increase is predicted for the upcoming year. Another reason that St. Louis is considered a cold market is the city’s foreclosure rate. St. Louis has 8 homes foreclosed per 10,000. This is double the national average of 4 per 10,000.

On a positive note new home construction is up this year. The 5 counties that make up the St Louis market have increased 11.2% in the past year in building permits issued according to the St. Louis Real Estate News. And like the affordable cost of housing, rental prices in the St. Louis region are around $1,100, and $995 in the city’s metro area. The national average for rental prices is $1,376.

Although it carries the name of its neighbor, Kansas City is the largest city in the state of Missouri. And the Kansas City MO real estate is seeing a boom in sales according to local realtor Becky Budke. “The inventory is flying off the shelves. We are experiencing the best market I’ve seen in 33 years.” Like St Louis, Kansas City is extremely affordable. The city has a home value index of $103,900. This is a 2% increase in the past year but is expected to increase at a higher rate (3.3%) in the upcoming year. This is not surprising given that the city offers high employment opportunities. The federal government is the largest employer, but the city is also home to assembly plants for both Ford and General Motors, and has one of the largest drug manufacturing plants. Another incentive to reside in Kansas City is that median rental prices are also very low with an average of $850.

The median home value in the Springfield MO real estate market is $107,400. This represents little change from this time last year (a .7% increase) but is expected to rise nearly 4% in the upcoming year. Rental prices in Springfield are ridiculously low, coming in at a median rental price of $625. Another positive for the market is that Springfield only has a 2.2% delinquent on mortgage rate, well below the national average. The draw for Springfield is that it is oriented for young adults. The average age for residents of Springfield is 31 years old. This is no surprise considering that Springfield has several colleges and universities, including Missouri State University. 

Latest figures show that the Columbia MO real estate home prices have increased but sales have dropped. Columbia is on the higher end of real estate value in the state. The median home value index in Columbia is $156,500. This is a 1.7% increase from the same time last year and Zillow predicts this number to rise 1.8% in the next year. While homes are more expensive to own, like the rest of Missouri the rental prices are reasonable. The median rental price in Columbia is $988. The delinquent on mortgage rate is rather remarkable, coming in at only 1.2%. Like Springfield, Columbia can be considered a college town. Home to the University of Missouri, Columbia is known for progressive politics, art, and exceptional journalism. It is very much a center of education and athletics in the state. 

Branson MO real estate boasts a rather high average listing price of $151,000. Because of this homes spend an average of 111 days on the market and there are currently 745 active listings. The great appeal of Branson is its excellent school system. Only 20% of households are made up of a married couple and children. Because of this the school system has a favorable average of 17.1 students per teacher and a nearly 90% high school graduation rate. Branson is also a popular destination for vacationers. Route 76 is known as Country Boulevard and includes Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede.

And lastly, along the Missouri River lies the Jefferson City MO real estate. The capital of the state offers a very low-key market. The city houses many historic buildings and riverfront attractions. And as expected the economy revolves mainly around the state government. To put it into perspective, as of 2013, 14,466 of the city’s employees worked for the State of Missouri. In second was the publisher Scholastic with 2,182. So it’s not surprising that the cost of living is low in the city, about 6.4% lower than the national average. The city has a reasonable median home price of $137,700 making it fairly affordable for a capital city. While it might not have the flare of it’s rival cities in the state it does offer a small town feel and was name America’s “Most Beautiful Small Town” by American Publisher Rand McNally in 2013.

Check out Neighboring Competitors to the Missouri Real Estate Market

 

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *