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The mortgage meltdown hit St. Louis late in the game. Until recently, the downturn hadn't been as painful as in many other areas of the nation, but home sales in St. Louis have continued to fall this year. In part, it's because the city has had to absorb some unexpected economic blows.
In January, construction kicked off the start of a two-year shutdown of a major downtown interstate. Many residents feared it would snarl traffic into the city. Even though those fears proved mainly unfounded, the concerns hurt home sales in some neighborhoods, says John Williams, president of the St. Louis Association of Realtors. St. Louis also began the year with severe weather, including much flooding. "Then we had one of our largest snowstorms in the beginning of March," Williams says. But the city and St. Louis County, which surrounds the city, are likely to weather the mortgage crisis. For one thing, the area has long managed to retain affordable homes. Subprime mortgage failures have caused some foreclosures, but overall, St. Louis hasn't been hit as hard as many other cities. In November, Forbes magazine named St. Louis one of the most affordable places to live well, noting that its market isn't as saddled with risky loans and defaults as some other Midwestern cities are. St. Louis also benefits from a diversified economy. In 2007, Greater St. Louis was home to 20 Fortune 1,000 companies, of which nine are in the Fortune 500, according to the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association. And even though it's lost some auto jobs, the area is becoming a biotech hub. "I think the housing market is picking up slowly, but it is picking up," Williams say.
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