Rental Vacancy Rate - St Louis Real Estate News

St Louis Makes Top 10 for Rent Growth in 2025

By Dennis Norman, on December 6th, 2025

While rents have declined nationally over the past year, St. Louis is one of the exceptions. According to the December 2025 National Rent Report from Apartment List, the St. Louis metro saw a 4.3% year-over-year increase in rent prices, placing it among the top ten large U.S. metro areas for rent growth.

The national picture looks very different. Rents fell by 1.0% in November alone and are now down 1.1% compared to the same time last year. This marks the fourth straight month of nationwide rent declines. In fact, national median rent has dropped 5.2% from its August 2022 peak Continue Reading →

Midwest Rental Market Tightens, Boosting St. Louis Appeal

By Dennis Norman, on July 30th, 2024

The latest rental vacancy rates released by the U.S. Census Bureau highlight a significant shift in the housing market dynamics across various regions. Here in the Midwest, we experienced a noteworthy decline in vacancy rates, dropping from 6.9% in the second quarter of 2023 to 5.5% in the second quarter of 2024. This decrease suggests a tightening rental market in the Midwest, contrasting with the national trend where the overall vacancy rate slightly increased. As the Midwest continues to attract more residents and stabilize its housing market, St. Louis stands to benefit from this positive momentum.

The rental vacancy rates Continue Reading →

St. Louis Residential Rental Vacancies for 2023 Hit Highest Level in Four Years

By Dennis Norman, on February 2nd, 2024

The latest residential vacancy rate data from the U.S. Census Bureau for the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) shows that the rental vacancy rate for 2023 was an average of 7.73% and increase of over a percentage point from the previous year. As the chart below illustrates, the average St Louis rental vacancy rate for 2023 was the highest in four years.

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St Louis MSA Rental Vacancy Rate 2015-2023

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St Louis Rental Vacancy Rate Climbs To Highest Rate In Over a Year

By Dennis Norman, on May 5th, 2021

The St Louis MSA rental vacancy rate during the 1st quarter of 2021 was 6.4%, the highest rate since the 4th quarter of 2019, according to data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau. During the 1st quarter of last year, the St Louis rental vacancy rate was 5.5%..

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St Louis Rental Vacancy Rates – 2005 – Present

(click on table for complete data from 2005 – present)

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St Louis Area Vacant Property Rate and Zombie Foreclosure Rate On The Rise

By Dennis Norman, on August 28th, 2020

Zombies are on the rise in St Louis! I’m referring, of course, to Zombie foreclosures and not the spooky creatures from scary movies. A zombie foreclosure is a property that is in “pre-foreclosure” meaning it is in the foreclosure process but has not been yet foreclosed upon and is vacant or abandoned by the current owner. We saw the levels of zombie foreclosures rise significantly after the housing bubble burst back in 2008 but then fall around 2012 as the market began its recovery. For the 3rd quarter of 2020, according to ATTOM Data Research, 10.8% of the homes in Continue Reading →

St Louis Rental Vacancy Rate Hits Lowest Level In Over 15 Years!

By Dennis Norman, on July 29th, 2020

The St Louis MSA rental vacancy rate during the 2nd quarter of 2020 was 4.4%, the lowest rate in over 15 years, according to data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau. During the 2nd quarter of last year, the St Louis rental vacancy rate was 7.6%..

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St Louis Rental Vacancy Rates – 2005 – Present

(click on table for complete data from 2005 – present)”

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Nearly One In Five Properties In 63113 Are Vacant

By Dennis Norman, on February 27th, 2020

Of the 4,531 residential properties located within the 63113 zip code in the City of St Louis, over 18 percent of them are vacant (824), according to a report just released today by Attom Data Solutions. As the table below shows, six of the ten zip codes in the St Louis MSA with the highest rate of vacant property are located within the City of St Louis and the remaining 4 in St Louis County.

Nine of the 10 zip codes with the highest rate of vacancy have double-digit vacancy rates. Franklin County has the most zip codes with no Continue Reading →

St Louis Homeowner Vacancy Rate Hits Highest Level Since 2016

By Dennis Norman, on November 2nd, 2019

The St Louis MSA homeowner vacancy rate during the 3rd quarter of this year was 1.8%, an increase from 0.3% the prior quarter and the highest rate since the 4th quarter of 2016 when the rate was 3.0%, according to data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The median vacancy rate for 2019 though, at 0.5%, is still at a record low.

The homeowner vacancy rate represents the percentage of total listings of homes for sale that are vacant.

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St Louis Homeowner Vacancy Rates – 2016 – Present

(click on table for complete data Continue Reading →

St Louis Rental Vacancy Rates Hit Highest Level In Over Three Years

By Dennis Norman, on November 1st, 2019

The St Louis MSA rental vacancy rate during the 3rd quarter of this year was 10.6%, an increase from 7.6% the prior quarter and the highest rate since the 1st quarter of 2016 when the rate was 12.2%, according to data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Last year, the median rental vacancy rate for the St Louis MSA for the year was 6.8%, a 13 year low.

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St Louis Rental Vacancy Rates – 2016 – Present

(click on table for complete data from 2005 – present)

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City of St Louis Property Vacancy Rate More Than Double The Rate For The St Louis MSA

By Dennis Norman, on August 16th, 2019

There are 100,478 residential properties in the City of St Louis, 7,604 of which (7.6%), are vacant properties according to the vacancy rate report for the 3rd quarter of 2019 by ATTOM Data Research. The other St Louis area county with a vacancy rate higher than the rate for the St Louis MSA as a whole of 2.9% is St Louis County where 3.1% of the residential properties are vacant.

St Louis MSA Vacant Property And Investor Owned Property Q3 2019

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Half Of The Residential Properties In Franklin County Are Investor-Owned

By Dennis Norman, on August 15th, 2019

There are 64,645 residential properties in Franklin County, 32,625 of which (50.5%), are investment properties according to the vacancy rate report for the 3rd quarter of 2019 by ATTOM Data Research. The other St Louis area county with a percentage of investment properties higher than the rate for the St Louis MSA as a whole of 23.8% is the city of St Louis where 41.5% of the residential properties are investor-owned.

St Louis MSA Vacant Property And Investor Owned Property Q3 2019

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St Louis Rental Vacancy Rate Rises For First Time In A Year

By Dennis Norman, on May 12th, 2019

The St Louis MSA rental vacancy rate during the 1st quarter of this year was 8.1%, an increase from 6.6% the prior quarter, according to data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Given that for 2018 the median rental vacancy rate of 6.8% in the St Louis MSA was a 13 year low, it’s not surprising we may see an uptick in vacancies.

As the table below shows, the rental vacancy rate for the St Louis MSA for the first quarter of 2018 was 9.6% and then fell to 5.6% during the 2nd quarter so perhaps we’ll see a Continue Reading →

St Louis Rental Vacancy Rate In 2018 Hits Lowest Level In Over 13 Years

By Dennis Norman, on March 6th, 2019

The median rental vacancy rate for the St Louis metro area during 2018 was 6.8%, according to data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau. This rate marks the lowest annual median rental vacancy rate for St Louis since the U.S. Census Bureau’s reports which began in 2005.

As the table below shows, the vacancy rate for the 4th quarter of 2018 was 6.6%, down from 6.9% the quarter before and down from 9.2% a year ago.

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St Louis Rental Vacancy Rates

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St Louis Rental Vacancies At Lowest Rates In Over A Decade

By Dennis Norman, on November 5th, 2017

The vacancy rate for rentals in St Louis during the third quarter of this year was 9.8%, significantly lower than the median vacancy rate of 11.5% for that quarter since 2004. The year to date median vacancy rate for 2017, through the first 3 quarters, is 8.1% which is tied with last years rate, the lowest in more than a decade. So it’s a good time to be a landlord in St Louis! (We work hard on this and sure would appreciate a “Like”)[iframe http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FStLouisRealEstateNews&send=false&layout=standard&width=50&show_faces=false&font&colorscheme=light&action=like&height=35&appId=537283152977556 100 35 ] Search Rental Property For Sale In St Louis Search Multi-Family Properties for Continue Reading →

St Louis Rental Vacancy Rate Rises In 3rd Quarter But Still Down From A Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on October 29th, 2016

The rental vacancy rate in the St Louis MSA the U.S. during the third quarter of this year rose to 9.5 percent from 5.5 percent the prior quarter, according to the latest data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. It is worth noting though that the 5.5 percent vacancy rate seen during 2nd quarter was the lowest quarterly vacancy rate for the St Louis MSA in well over a decade and 9.5 percent for the 3rd quarter of 2016 is still much lower than the 13.9 percent vacancy rate we saw for St Louis during the 3rd quarter of last year. Continue Reading →

City of St Louis Property Vacancy Rate Over Four Times Higher Then National Rate

By Dennis Norman, on February 11th, 2016

According to a report just released this morning by RealtyTrac, 6,809, of the 103,855 residential properties in the city of St Louis, are vacant. This vacant property rate of 6.6 percent for the City of St Louis is over four times higher than the national rate of 1.6 percent. Continue Reading →

Rental Vacancy Rate In U.S. During 2nd Quarter Hits Lowest Level In Over 10 Years

By Dennis Norman, on July 27th, 2015

The rental vacancy rate in the U.S. during the second quarter of this year was 6.8 percent, the lowest level in over 10 years, according to data just released by the U.S. Census Bureau. This was a decline of over 9 percent (9.33%) from the 2nd quarter of 2014 when the rental vacancy rate was 7.5%. Continue Reading →

St Louis Rental Vacancies Increase In First Quarter – Still 3rd Lowest Level In 6 Years

By Dennis Norman, on July 16th, 2015

St Louis Rental Vacancies remain at historically low levels in spite of a slight increase in the first quarter of this year to 8.6% from 8.5% in the 4th quarter of 2014. The St Louis vacancy rate for first quarter of 2015 was also up significantly from the first quarter of 2014 when the vacancy rate for St Louis stood at just 7.2% although we have to remember that was the lowest vacancy rate we had seen in over 10 years. Continue Reading →

Rental Vacancy Rate Falls To Lowest Level In 20 Years

By Dennis Norman, on July 30th, 2014

The rental vacancy rate in the U.S. was at 7.5% for the 2nd quarter of 2014, down from 8.3% the quarter before and at the lowest level in 20 years, according to data just released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The U.S. rental vacancy rate has not been this low since the 4th quarter of 1994 when the rate was 7.4%.

Here in the Midwest region of the U.S., the rental vacancy rate was 7.5% during the 2nd quarter of 2014, the lowest rate in 16 years! The last time the Midwest Region of the U.S. saw rental vacancy rates Continue Reading →

The Best Place In St Louis To Buy Rental Property

By Dennis Norman, on July 3rd, 2014

I’ll begin with a disclaimer. I realize this is a VERY subjective topic and there are about a hundred different criteria one may use to determine the best area to invest in rental property however, having said that, I attempted to do a broad brush analysis from 30,000 feet. I decided to look at which area, in general, offers the best return on investment when it comes to rental property. For the sake of my analysis, I looked at single family homes as rental properties since they are the most common investment by individual investors.

To determine the best rate Continue Reading →

St Louis Homeowner Vacancy Rate At Highest Rate In Over 8 Years

By Dennis Norman, on February 27th, 2014

The St Louis homeowner vacancy rate was 3.5 percent in 2013, an increase of almost 13 percent from the year before and the highest rate in over 8 years, according to data just released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The homeowner vacancy rate represents the percentage of homes, that are normally occupied year-round, that are currently vacant and for sale without a pending contract. The interesting thing about this is the inventory of homes for sale in St Louis has been steadily declining so the fact that the vacancy rate is increasing indicates there are a growing number Continue Reading →

St Louis Rental Vacancy Rate Falls To Lowest Level In Over A Year

By Dennis Norman, on February 3rd, 2014

The St Louis rental vacancy rate for the 4th quarter of 2013 was 10.1 percent, the lowest rate since the 3rd quarter of 2012 when the rate was 8.2 percent, according to the latest dates just released by the Census Bureau.

See the table below for quarterly vacancy rates from 2010 through 2013.

(We work hard on this and sure would appreciate a “Like”)[iframe http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FStLouisRealEstateNews&send=false&layout=standard&width=50&show_faces=false&font&colorscheme=light&action=like&height=35&appId=537283152977556 100 35 ]

St Louis Rental Vacancy Rate For 3rd Quarter Hits Lowest Level Of The Year

By Dennis Norman, on November 8th, 2013

The St Louis rental vacancy rate dropped to the lowest level of 2013 in the 3rd quarter coming in at 13.1 percent for the St. Louis metro area, according to the latest data available from the U.S. Census Bureau. This year started off with a vacancy rate of 15.6 percent for the first quarter, the same rate 2012 started out with as well, however, in 2012 the vacancy rate fell to just 8.2 percent during the 3rd quarter. Due to holidays and weather, the 4th quarter usually sees a significant increase in vacancy rates from the 3rd quarter so we Continue Reading →

Real Estate Recovery "On Its Way"

By Tyler Frank NMLS # 942420, on May 3rd, 2013

Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420

“The (real estate) recovery has been much more like the tortoise than the hare,” said Stephen Blank, a senior resident fellow of the Washington-based Urban Land Institute. “We’ve become used to slow relief. But we have finally turned the corner.”

Real estate markets on both coasts in places like; New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston were the first to emerge from recession and will pick up their pace of recovery through 2013, said Blank, a principal researcher for Emerging Trends. He was the main speaker at the annual outlook presented by Continue Reading →

Is it premature to say the housing market is in recovery?

By Dennis Norman, on December 21st, 2012

Lately we have seen several reports on the housing market that show the housing market is improving and may even be headed toward a recovery however some experts, including Cliff Rossi, Tyser Teaching Fellow and executive-in-residence for the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, say it may be premature to call this a “real recovery.” Rossi is not entirely negative on the housing market and does admit that home prices are stabilizing and inventories are declining, however he has concerns as a result of the “fiscal cliff”, regulatory reform and tightness of credit, to name a few. Continue Reading →

2013 looks to be a good year for real estate

By Dennis Norman, on December 11th, 2012

I continue to see encouraging news about the housing market and today was no exception. The Freddie Mac housing market outlook for December was released and included a very encouraging outlook for the real estate market in 2013 by its chief economist, Frank Nothaft. Not that I’m on the same level as Northaft, but I will be coming out later this month with a short market recap video for 2012 as well as an outlook for 2013, both specifically for the St Louis real estate market. In the meantime, below are the highlights from Mr Nothaft’s projections for the U.S. Continue Reading →

2010 Census Data Shows Second Hightest Homeownership Rate on Record Despite Largest Decrease since 1940

By Dennis Norman, on October 7th, 2011

Yesterday, statistician’s from the U.S. Census Bureau gave a briefing on highlights of the housing characteristics data contained in the 2010 Census. Several interesting facts came out, but the one that I found most interesting was that the data shows the U.S., at 65.1 percent, has the second highest homeownership rate on record for the period. It’s not that all the recent talk about the decline in homeownership was unfounded however as the census data did show that the drop in the rate of homeownership during this last census period (2000-2010) of 1.1 percent is the largest decrease since the period from 1930-1940. Continue Reading →

Double-dip recession concern by consumers is putting a damper on the housing market

By Dennis Norman, on September 19th, 2011

Fannie Mae’s Economics & Mortgage Market Analysis Group says that we are not out of the woods yet and that the economy is “flirting with another economic downturn” now after more than two years since the worst recession since the World War II era. Fannie Mae Chief Economist, Doug Duncan, said “the weakening economic backdrop, a persistently high unemployment rate, and fear of a double-dip recession are casting a shadow over the housing market.”

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Converting REO’s to rentals could help housing recovery according to Fed Official

By Dennis Norman, on September 8th, 2011

Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth A. Duke, while speaking at the Federal Reserve Board Policy Forum last week, discussed the effect on the housing market that properties acquired by banks and lenders through foreclosure (REO’s) and suggested that if some of this inventory was converted to rental property by the lenders, this may have a positive effect on the housing market.

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New reports paint bleak picture for housing market recovery

By Dennis Norman, on August 22nd, 2011

It seems every time I start thinking it’s safe to use the “R” word (recovery) about the housing market, something happens to put the damper on it. The recent downgrading of the U.S. credit rating, which ultimately caused the Wall Street roller coaster ride, certainly hasn’t help. Then today, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) came out with a report saying “the recent economic news points to a slower housing recovery” and Fannie Mae, in their economic forecast released today saying “housing activity expected to weaken, despite recent declines in long-term interest rates”.

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