Where we live matters—not just because the roof keeps us dry but because the place we choose says who we are. The history buff who buys a log-cabin kit does not yearn for a high-design microhouse; the couple in the downtown loft would rattle around in an Italianate villa. Shelter’s intensely personal. We dream about it, save for it, mortgage our lives to it.
Alas, those mortgage rates are rising again—but that means a lot of property on the market. Provided you can unload your previous abode, all things are possible. And the trends are getting interesting: eastward movement; mixed-use everywhere; sleek high-rises (the heck with the yard and that basement crammed with stuff); and walkable neighborhoods, whether Wildwood’s hiking trails or the sleek avenues of the Central West End.
Take your pick. It’s a buyer’s market.
Other cities ride a real-estate roller coaster, and right now it’s hurtling to the ground. Investment in residential real estate is slowing, mortgage rates are climbing back up from historic lows and new-home construction is at its slowest pace in more than nine years.
What St. Louis rides is more of a merry-go-round. At the market’s 2005 peak, our housing prices rose by 8 percent, the biggest gain in 22 years—but nowhere near the national average of 13 percent or the extreme of Phoenix’s 39.7 percent. “This is not Miami. This is not Las Vegas. We didn’t overbuild like those places did,” says Tom McCue, managing broker of the Chesterfield office of St. Louis Realty. “However, we do have a lot of inventory the builders are trying to offload. Price is going up slightly; days on the market are increasing; number of units sold are decreasing.”
In other words, it’s the buyer’s turn to take the reins—and sure, some of the ponies are dipping away from the brass ring, but dark horses are rising.
Keep your eye on the following areas, arranged in ascending order—in other words, from the longest odds to the surest bets.
Dogtown
“The whole Forest Park area is the biggest asset this city has that is totally underutilized,” says Tyler Stephens, a principal at Schwetye Architects. “In any other city, it would be surrounded by high-rise city living. The south side of the park, on Oakland, is ripe to be totally redone. Fantastic location, proximity, views of the park—eventually somebody’s going to wake up.”
Downtown West
Developers Pete Rothschild and Bob Wood are pouring more than $50 million into an area bounded by 18th, Jefferson, Locust and Delmar. They’re creating a neighborhood almost from scratch: housing for the elderly, high-end condos, both affordable and high-end apartments and a lot of retail. “We think the neighborhood is poised for a boom within the next three to five years,” says Rothschild.
Fox Park
Fox Park’s regal old homes are beginning to attract attention from people interested in the city but not in a high-rise, and because the area is just now on the upswing, many of these homes can be had at affordable prices that come with equally enticing tax abatements. That means that although your $50,000 home might be valued at $300,000 in five years, you’ll be paying taxes on the original price for the next 10 years. Experts say this is the next Benton Place, with the well-tended Fox Park community garden and hands-on neighborhood association as added inducements.
McKinley Heights
With its proximity to Soulard and Lafayette Square, McKinley Heights is conveniently located on the fringes of cool, allowing its residents affordable access to the best restaurants, culture and entertainment the city has to offer. Families are gravitating to the area because of its historic architecture (the neighborhood’s on the National Register), Eastern European flavor, churches and community school.
Old North St. Louis
In the past five years, ONSL has come to be seen as one of St. Louis’ most exciting up-and-coming neighborhoods. Sean Thomas, president of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, says the $26 million redevelopment project on 14th Street has real estate prices increasing steadily. Rehabbed homes are now selling for more than $100,000, and new houses along North Market list for almost $200,000. The Restoration Group is taking daily calls from people who want to buy houses or attend the May 12 ONSL house tour. A farmers’ market is coming; North Market Place, which includes new infill housing and rehabs, is nearly sold out; and existing stock is in new demand. An amazing three-story brick mansion across from the DeMenil house just sold for $158,000; in the Central West End, it would have cost $600,000.
Carondelet
History lends this neighborhood a certain gravitas—and historic tax credits make it seductive even for casinos. One’s moving close by, there’s a lot of pre-1900 housing stock ready to be gussied up, interesting projects are under way and prices are still among the most reasonable in town. Carondelet also has less crime and more community spirit than a suburbanite might expect. “Through the gen-erations, people have really stayed close together, and I think that when new people come, they become a part of that,” says Sister Marie Charles Buford, executive director of the Carondelet Community Better-ment Federation. She’s excited about Curran Development’s condo project on the 5200 block of Broadway, overlooking the river bluffs; Curran’s rehab of Maddox School, which had been boarded up for 20 years; and Loughborough Commons, which is adding restaurants and shops. CCBF’s Forgivable Loan Program offers $10,000 to homeowners in certain income brackets to make improvements, and they have to pay back only one-fourth of the loan.
The Grove
Rehab projects still make up the bulk of the residential activity in the up-and-coming portion of Forest Park Southeast known as the Grove, but that’s about to change. Irving Blue, executive director of the Forest Park Southeast Development Corp., says his outfit will begin pre-selling seven three-story townhouses in the 4400 block of Gibson this month. Blue expects the units to be completed by the end of this year or early next, with list prices ranging from $250,000 to $300,000. Beyond that, there’s talk of a 300–housing unit project. Expect new construction to make up the bulk of the development in this neighborhood for the next three years—but details are scarce.
Lafayette Square
“People want to get out of the condo mentality, where you have to get along with people of a hundred different views,” says Peggy Shepley, an agent with Dielmann Sotheby’s International Realty. “There was a house on Vail in Lafayette Square for $79,000. It was empty and not occupiable. I said we’d sell it as-is and got nine contracts. It’s what everybody paid $200,000 for 30 years ago. They aren’t doing tear-downs anymore in Lafayette Square; they’re doing burn-downs. It’s a historic area—and it feels like a neighborhood now.”
Fenton
“Fenton’s right after Wildwood for new construction,” remarks Rick Yehling at Realty Executives of St. Louis. “The Bluffs shopping center has done wonders for property values”—and now a movie theater is opening there. “We’ve even sold villas in neighboring Valley Park for almost half-a-million dollars,” Yehling adds.
Maplewood
It’s already emerged from its chrysalis as a thriving (and surprisingly hip) neighborhood, its business district a slightly less cerebral, slightly less eccentric version of the Loop, with lower rents. The clincher now? That business district will soon be included in a new historic district, and a large residential chunk of Maplewood is likely to follow.
“Before long, it’s going to be difficult to make what I call a good buy in Maplewood,” says Jim Human of Edward L. Bakewell Realtors.
For additional listings, check out the print edition, available on newsstands or by calling 314-918-3030 to subscribe.
Edited by Jeannette Batz Cooperman; Reporting by Laura Batty, Jolene Fisher, Matthew Halverson, Bryan A. Hollerbach, Christy Marshall, Katie Pelech, Stefene Russell, and Brigitte Ulses
