St. Louis Fed, UMSL To Host Housing Data Conference on June 2; Program Will Include First Peek at New Housing Index for the St. Louis MSA

ST. LOUIS – While publicly available data can provide valuable information on broad housing market conditions in the St. Louis region, these sources do not pinpoint regional, county, or neighborhood house-price trends.  Even expensive proprietary data may not be satisfactory.

It does not help that the most widely followed housing data source in the U.S., the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, do not include the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA.)

To this end, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the Public Policy Research Center of the University of Missouri-St. Louis are hosting a first-of-its-kind housing data conference at the St. Louis Fed’s Gateway Conference Center on Thursday, June 2, 2011. 

The conference is free and consists of two sessions.  A complimentary buffet lunch will be served.  For the complete agenda, or to register, see the event listing page on the St. Louis Fed’s web site.   Seating is limited, so be sure to register without delay.

Morning session: “What’s Your Home Worth?  A Deeper Dive Into St. Louis Housing Values”
9 a.m.-Noon

After welcoming remarks from Julie Stackhouse, senior vice president of the St. Louis Fed’s Banking Supervision and Regulation division, the morning session kicks off with a presentation by Dr. William Emmons of the St. Louis Fed on “St. Louis Mortgage and Housing Market Data: What’s Available, What’s Reliable?” 

Dr. Emmons will be followed by Dr. William Rogers of UMSL’s Public Policy Research Center, who will present on “Housing Value Appreciation in St. Louis: Surprising Findings for the Last Decade.”  Dr. Rogers will preview a new housing index that he is designing specifically for the St. Louis MSA.    

The index reveals some surprises regarding home value appreciation in various zip codes across St. Louis City and St. Louis County. 

Dr. Rogers will also discuss the findings of a study that examines property tax appraisal errors in St. Louis County from 2001 through 2010. His study, which includes comparing property tax appraisals to actual sales of single-family housing, identifies homes in St. Louis County that have been consistently under-appraised and over-appraised during this timeframe.

Wrapping up the morning session will be a panel discussion on “What Should an Effective Regional Housing Data System Look Like and How Can We Get There?” moderated by Dr. Todd Swanstrom, the Des Lee Endowed Professor of Community Collaboration and Public Policy Administration.

Afternoon session: “Where’s the Money?  A Deeper Dive into Community Development Finance in St. Louis”
1-4 p.m.

Following a complimentary buffet lunch, the afternoon session will build on the theme of the importance of accurate data in developing successful community development initiatives, including affordable housing, and provide an update on the state community development funding in the St. Louis region.

In addition, this session will provide a first peek into a new initiative that is designed to provide access to detailed, asset-oriented market data that can be used to strengthen the case for increased access to food, financial and other retail services within St. Louis neighborhoods.

The Social Compact DrillDown is a community collaborative that is chaired by Housing & Community Solutions and the Regional Housing & Community Development Alliance (RHCDA), in partnership with Social Compact, a national nonprofit organization.  Social Compact has completed DrillDown reports in more than 20 cities, and the St. Louis DrillDown report will be released in October 2011.  The reports consist of market data that is tailored to urban markets and doesn’t rely upon on census estimates, which tend to undercount both population and purchasing power in urban communities.