The Missouri real estate market is facing a state-wide decrease in property values as foreclosures continue to flood the market. Several housing markets in Missouri are projected to average at least 10% deflation and Housing Predictor is forecasting a 13.2% price fall in Kansas City. The following article from Housing Predictor has more on this.
The hunt for the elusive bottom of the housing market is in full gear in Missouri as home sales rise, signaling an improvement in market conditions may be in sight in an otherwise bleak economy. Home sales have been helped by government efforts to get first time buyers off the fence.
The first time buyers’ tax credit has gotten many new home buyers to enter the market in St. Louis, where prices are, however, still deflating. But housing deflation has slowed as high unemployment and a reshuffling of the economy hurts Missouri’s gateway city on the mighty Mississippi River. St. Louis has been battered by the nation’s epidemic of foreclosures. Housing Predictor forecasts St. Louis home values will deflate 11.0% in 2009.
In Kansas City, Missouri foreclosures are being sold at bargain basement prices to investors and first time homeowners. Although the inventory of vacant homes is falling, the community is still troubled by empty homes that need up keeping. Public records indicate that Kansas City is one of the nation’s hardest hit housing markets in terms of foreclosures in the mid-west.
The blight of foreclosed properties has left pains in neighborhoods throughout Kansas City as homeowners increasingly walk away from mortgages as a result of being unable to afford new higher payments. More than half of all homes sold are foreclosures as bankers slash prices further damaging home values of the entire market. Home prices in Kansas City, the state’s most populous market, are forecast to deflate an average of 13.2% for the year.
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Local Missouri Housing Markets at a Glance
| City | Forecast |
| St. Louis | -11.0% |
| Kansas City | -13.2% |
| Springfield | -10.2% |
| Columbia | -10.9% |
However, price drops are beginning to moderate in Kansas City as the market tries to find stabilizing factors, which will have to come in the form of major Congressional reforms to have a lasting impact.
In Springfield, the financial crisis didn’t seem to have much of an impact for a while, but then mortgages and business financing got harder to get and home sales slowed. An increase in foreclosures is projected to increase through the year in Springfield as many homeowners with higher mortgage payments are unable to afford their homes and abandon properties. Springfield is forecast to sustain 10.2% in housing deflation in 2009.
A lack of consumer confidence is also ailing many homeowners in Columbia, who are trying to refinance their homes only to learn that housing values have dropped so much they have no choice than to abandon their homes.
Slightly more than 40% of all homeowners are underwater on their mortgages in Columbia, owing more than what they could sell their property for these days. Tighter credit markets and more restrictive loan qualification standards are making it tough for those who need to refinance. The lack of adequate financing is hurting the marketplace in Columbia, which is forecast to see average home values decline 10.9% through year’s end.
This article has been republished from Housing Predictor. You can also view this article at Housing Predictor, a real estate forecasting site.
