Home prices hold value in Missouri, improve in many bordering states

It could have been worse with the worst recession since the Great Depression, but it wasn't, at least in Missouri. While U.S. house prices fell slightly in the fourth quarter of 2009, Missouri prices saw a very modest increase according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI).

The HPI is calculated on a seasonally adjusted basis using sales data from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages. Nationally, those mortgages dropped 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter from the third quarter.

FHFA said the non-seasonally adjusted national data, however, showed a 1.5 percent decline over-the-quarter. The declines were, however, a marked improvement from the same period in 2008 that saw declines of more than 8 percent.

In Missouri, FHFA estimates home prices appreciated by 0.43 percent in the last quarter, but only 0.03 percent over-the year.


While not as great as the 3.5 percent over-the-year appreciation in Oklahoma, Missouri fared better 30 other states in terms of annual appreciation. Regionally though, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kentucky, Arkansas, Kansas, and Iowa all saw home prices appreciate at a greater rate. Only Tennessee and Illinois performed more poorly.

Boosting the marginal increase in average Missouri home prices was Jefferson City, which saw home prices increase by 1.8 percent last year and 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter alone. By the way, that was the fifth highest rate of any Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in the country.

In Joplin, home prices increased by 1.1 percent over-the-year, even despite a 1 percent decline in the last quarter. That rate was the 12th highest in the country.

The larger metropolitan areas of St. Louis and Kansas City didn't come out so well though. Relative to one year ago, prices in St. Louis slipped another 3.5 percent and Kansas City fell almost 2.5 percent.

Related Links:
FHFA State Data (PDF)

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