St. Louis is a deep, affordable market with strong bones: a big medical and university base, historic brick multifamily, and neighborhood-by-neighborhood pricing. The single most important structural fact for a buyer is that the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County are two entirely separate jurisdictions, and they are not the same on tax, permits, or process.
City and County are separate, with different rates
The City of St. Louis is an independent city, not part of St. Louis County. A building in the city is assessed and taxed by the city; a building in Clayton, University City, Kirkwood, or Florissant is in the county. The effective rate in the City of St. Louis runs near 1.52% of market value, and St. Louis County runs near 1.30%, with variation by municipality and school district inside the county. Confirm which jurisdiction the parcel sits in before anything else, because it changes the rate, the permit office, and the inspection process.
Missouri: 19% ratio, biennial reassessment
Missouri assesses residential property (including apartments) at 19% of market value and reassesses in odd-numbered years. Missouri does not reset your assessed value on sale, but it also does not lag it the way some states do, and a reassessment year can move your base. Model your tax at the current assessed value times the effective rate for the exact jurisdiction, and confirm whether the seller's bill predates the most recent odd-year reassessment.
Historic brick stock and occupancy permits
Much of St. Louis's multifamily is historic brick, which is a strength (durable, characterful) and a capital consideration (tuckpointing, parapets, older mechanicals). The City of St. Louis also requires an occupancy permit and inspection when a unit changes occupancy, and vacant-building registration applies to a lot of the value-add stock. Pull these requirements for your target before you plan a closing timeline.
Permits and the renovation story
Major work requires a permit through the city's or the relevant county municipality's building division. Cross-reference "renovated" claims against the permit record. See the full guide to checking permit history.
The broker pitch, translated
- "Taxes are $X": confirm city vs. county and whether the bill is post-reassessment.
- "Great St. Louis location": confirm the exact jurisdiction, which drives rate and process.
- "Renovated brick building": verify permits and inspect tuckpointing, roof, and mechanicals.
- "Cap rate is X%": ask for the NOI math with the correct rate and real capital reserves.
The standard checklist still applies
The St. Louis items above sit on top of the general pre-offer due diligence checklist: permit history, code violations, demographics, debt-service stress test, and FEMA flood zone (the Mississippi, Missouri, and Meramec rivers put parts of the metro in mapped zones). The city-versus-county split and the 19% biennial reassessment are the items to nail. Full tax modeling guide.
Or get the St. Louis research done for you
DealBrief identifies whether the parcel is City or County, applies the 19% ratio and the correct jurisdiction rate, and returns sale history, permit records, FEMA flood zone, and the full debt-service scenario grid for any St. Louis multifamily address. Your first report is free.