St Louis future growth

[Yair Gafni]

Hello everyone,

I am currently investing in flips around St Louis.

My thoughts were to shift also in to the rental market.

As I am doing my research , the results I have found are not exiting.

Is there any forecast that St Louis will have more growth and less unemployment ?

I know the High-tech is growing there.

My debate is if to stay there,

can you please provide me with information that shows future growth in St Louis?

Thank you

[Max Householder]

St. Louis has many small pockets of growth/turnaround/gentrification, but overall I would expect it to stay steady as she goes. Anecdotally, I know many millennials who have enjoyed city living for the last 10 years starting to shift toward St. Louis and St. Charles counties as their families grow and they start to think about schools which are largely not an option in the city if you can't afford private school. Conversely, some recent empty-nesters are moving into the trendy areas of the city (Central West End, etc.) in order to downsize now that kids are off to college so there's kind of a flip-flop going on there that should net out as a wash.

As long as major industries/business HQ don't all bail on St. Louis at the same time, the low cost of living and manageable climate plus proximity to many US business destinations (4 hours by car to Chicago, Indy, Nashville, KC, Memphis, etc. or 2 hours by plane to Dallas, Denver, Atlanta, etc.) should keep a stable base population in the metro area. Being at the confluence of 3 major rivers (Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois) is an asset that is unlikely to ever become obsolete as well.

I've seen some research that indicates younger people are starting to leave high cost coastal cities and move back to the middle of the country (mostly Texas or Colorado for now) and St. Louis has a lot going for it in regard to food culture, cost of living, etc. that young people desire. We can all hope for a boom but it's probably more tortoise than hare.