One of the main reasons why St. Louis is one of the best cities for real estate investment is its affordability. Residential and commercial property prices here tend to range below the national average, giving investors more options to choose from.
This, coupled with a diversified economy, excellent infrastructure and quality of life, a low cost of living, and an increasing population of educated millennials migrating for the high-skill, high-pay jobs, makes it a more than attractive prospect. Read on to find out why you’d want to invest in real estate in the STL.
Entrepreneurs welcome
FitSmallBusiness.com named St. Louis the #2 Best City for Entrepreneurs in the U.S. in 2019. This represents a jump of 20 spaces from its #22 spot last year. The small business resource based their ranking on eight metrics: business survivability rate, economic growth, new business growth, financial landscape, tax climate, labor market, quality of life, and cost of living.
According to the site, “St. Louis not only has the nation’s highest business survivability rating at 85.32% — compared to the national average of 79.27% — but it also ranks as one of the top 10 cities in the U.S. for millennial entrepreneurs.”
The economy
Nine Fortune 500 and 14 Fortune 1000 companies call St. Louis home. These include healthcare company Centene, the manufacturing and engineering multinational Emerson Electric, and Reinsurance Group of America.
The region is also a hub for bioscience and technology, with 700 research and development-based companies that employ 14,000 people. Its research, nonprofit, medical, and academic institutions attract over $600 million in research and development funding annually.
Companies and research centers thrive in facilities such as the 240-acre Cortex Innovation Community in Midtown, the Cambridge Innovation Center, and the Bio-Research & Development Growth Park, which is home to the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.
Other industry clusters that are projected to drive growth in the region are financial and information services, multimodal logistics and advanced manufacturing, and health science and services.
Cost of living and quality of life
Its thriving economy is not the only thing that makes St. Louis a great place to do business. Known as one of the most alive and vibrant cities in the U.S., it has numerous green spaces and recreational opportunities as well as a dynamiccultural scene. Most attractions have the added advantage of being within easy reach – St. Louis is proud to call itself “a 20-minute city.”
As for cost of living, St. Louis’ is significantly below the U.S. metro average. On the 2017 ACCRA Cost of Living Index, Greater St. Louis scored 90 in overall cost of living (U.S. metro average = 100). Housing is more affordable here on average (71.3) as are transportation (94.8) and health care (96).
As Fit Small Business puts it, “St. Louis’s affordability and undersaturation make it the ideal proving ground for new businesses.”
Let us help you discover real estate investment opportunities in the region. Call the Cardinal Realty Group at 636.225.0385 or send an email to Hal(at)CardinalRealtyGroup(dotted)com.