The Partnership for Downtown St. Louis released a report that the desire for downtown living remains high.  The close of 2008 saw the downtown population grow to 11,800. That is a 6 percent increase over the 2007 population. And it is 5.6% more growth than is being experienced in the greater St. Louis Metro area.

In spite of a deepening recession and credit crunch that is playing havoc on new residential developments, individuals and families are continuing the trend of moving back to the confines of downtown St. Louis. Almost 5000 people have set up permanent residence in downtown St. Louis since 2000.

The trend that seems to be fueling this movement is the reduction of condominium inventory and the increase of apartments. Some of the recent condo projects are even converting to apartments which are having a positive effect on occupancy levels. In fact even with the addition of 400 apartments in 2008, rental occupancy rates for apartments open a full year actually increased two percent to 90%.

The Downtown St. Louis Housing Report projects 225 new residential units will open in 2009 and 500 units will open in 2010. The complete report is available on the Downtown Partnership website at www.downtownstl.org