St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis Apartment Loans in 2026
Soulard's brick walk-ups, the Central West End's high-rises and the new construction around Cortex rarely suit the same lender, which is why St. Louis apartment loans start with a side-by-side comparison of banks, agencies and debt funds. Our minimum is $1,500,000, LTV can reach 80%, and the lowest rates start at 6.12% for a stabilized St. Louis building. Larger properties have their own page, St. Louis multifamily loans; statewide coverage is on Missouri apartment financing; and today's commercial mortgage rates are posted by program.
Get a Free QuoteThe 2026 St. Louis Apartment Market: Uneven Hiring, New Anchors
Hiring in St. Louis was weak in spring 2026, with metro payrolls 0.5% below a year earlier in April. Year-over-year job growth has since turned positive, reaching 1.0% in September, according to preliminary BLS data. Manufacturing and the trade, transportation and utilities sector were below year-earlier levels in the spring and above them by August.
St. Louis Rents Hold Steady
City rents have held steady through an uneven hiring year. Even after slipping 1.0% in September, the St. Louis median of $1,142 (Apartment List, October 2026) is 1.2% higher than a year ago. One-bedrooms run about $1,015, two-bedrooms about $1,298.
Demand has new anchors, too. Boeing returned the headquarters of its Defense, Space and Security business to St. Louis in February 2026, counting more than 18,000 employees in the region, and in September 2026 the Navy selected Boeing for the F/A-XX fighter, its second sixth-generation award after the Air Force's F-47 in 2025. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency opened its new NGA West campus in the city in September 2025. For a St. Louis apartment loan, those employers support the renter base lenders want to see behind a stable rent roll.
St. Louis Apartment Loan Rates
Rates updated as of November 4, 2026
These are starting rates for a stabilized building. On older brick properties in the city, the lender's inspection and capital-needs findings can move the final terms as much as the market does.
| Loan Type | Rate* | Max LTV |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Year Fixed | 6.52% | Up to 80% |
| 7 Year Fixed | 6.55% | Up to 80% |
| 10 Year Fixed | 6.59% | Up to 80% |
- Cash-out refinances are acceptable
- Interest-only and non-recourse options
- Minimum 1.25x debt-service-coverage ratio
See St. Louis Multifamily Rates Over $6 Million, Starting at 6.12%
Rates last updated November 4, 2026. Rates and maximum LTV shown represent our best-case pricing scenarios. Actual rates, LTV, and loan terms are subject to underwriting approval and may vary.
St. Louis Neighborhoods Where We Lend
The Central West End sits on the eastern edge of Forest Park, and the 200-acre Cortex innovation district is woven into it and neighboring Forest Park Southeast. The Grove is a dining and nightlife district. Downtown holds a national park, the Gateway Arch, which Explore St. Louis says no other major U.S. downtown can claim, and Soulard is one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in St. Louis, densely built of red-brick row houses. To the north, the 97-acre NGA West campus sits in the historic St. Louis Place neighborhood.
Our loans reach across the city and into the nearby county suburbs, in neighborhoods such as:
- Central West End
- The Hill
- Soulard
- Lafayette Square
- Tower Grove
- Downtown
- Shaw
- Benton Park
- Dogtown
- The Grove
- Carondelet
- Cherokee Street
- Skinker-DeBaliviere
- Midtown
- Bevo Mill
- Botanical Heights
St. Louis Apartment Financing by Program
Older city buildings and newer county properties tend to fit different programs, so we price both ways. Here is where each one opens:
| Program | Typical rate* | Max leverage | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fannie Mae Small Loan | 6.52% | Up to 80% | Non-recourse, fixed to 30 yrs |
| Freddie Mac SBL | 6.60% | Up to 80% | $2M to $10M small balance |
| FHA / HUD | 6.74% | Up to 85% | Highest leverage, longest term |
| Bank / portfolio | 6.50% | Up to 75% | Flexible, value-add |
| Bridge | 9.00% | Up to 80% LTC | Reposition, lease-up |
On a building reassessed in 2025, the usual 1.25x coverage minimum gets tested against the new tax bill. Our St. Louis multifamily loans page handles the larger balances.
Rates last updated November 4, 2026. Rates and maximum LTV shown represent our best-case pricing scenarios. Actual rates, LTV, and loan terms are subject to underwriting approval and may vary.
What Every St. Louis Apartment Lender Will Ask About
The city is its own county. St. Louis is an independent city, named separately in state law as "a city not within a county," so it runs its own assessor, collector and inspection programs apart from St. Louis County. A building just inside the city limits near Skinker Boulevard and one just outside can face different rules and tax bills.
Occupancy inspections on every rental. All property in the city lies in a Housing Conservation District, and Ordinance 71835 requires a City inspection. A rental unit needs a Certificate of Inspection before it is occupied, and reinspection is required every three years or when the occupant changes. The application fee is $120, or $200 if the unit is already occupied without a current certificate. Multi-family buildings of six or more units also go through the City's Commercial Occupancy Permit process. A lender will expect certificates to be current across the rent roll.
Reassessment every odd year. Missouri assesses residential property, which by statute includes apartment buildings, at 19% of market value, sets new values each odd-numbered year and carries them into the following year. Preliminary 2025 figures showed the total assessed value of 107,249 City parcels rising 15.4%, and the assessor's office said some neighborhoods had been under-assessed. Expect the next new values in 2027, and expect a lender to ask what yours did in 2025.
No rent control, and state limits on local landlord rules. Missouri's RSMo 441.043 bars cities and counties from regulating rents on private rental property, with narrow exceptions, and its 2025 amendment added limits on local source-of-income rules, security deposit caps and tenant right-of-first-refusal requirements. Article X, Section 25 of the Missouri Constitution also blocks new taxes on selling or transferring real estate.
Weather and older buildings. The EF3 tornado of May 16, 2025 crossed the northern part of the city, and regional planners reported more than 5,000 damaged structures along its path. Lenders now look closely at roof age, wind coverage and deductibles on older brick buildings.
Financing Options in St. Louis
Three financing paths cover nearly every St. Louis property. Start with the one that matches yours:
Financing in Kansas City too? Missouri apartment loans covers the rest of the state.
Refinancing After the 2025 St. Louis Reassessment
For many owners the 2025 reassessment is the first thing a refinance has to absorb. A higher assessed value can mean a higher tax line, even after Missouri's levy rollback, and the new lender sizes the loan on that number. We pull your current assessment and tax bill before anything else, and if the increase looks out of line with the building, we flag whether an appeal is worth pursuing first.
On older brick buildings the second issue is capital needs. Tuckpointing, roofs, windows and mechanical systems show up in most property condition reports, and lenders will either require repair reserves or reduce proceeds to cover them. Bringing your recent capital spending and current occupancy certificates to the first conversation shortens the process considerably.
St. Louis Apartment Building Loans for Older and Newer Properties
City buildings range from Soulard's red-brick row houses to new construction near Cortex. Typical St. Louis requests involve:
- Brick walk-ups and row-house conversions
- High-rise apartment buildings in the Central West End
- Historic rehabilitation properties
- Newer mid-rise buildings near Cortex and downtown
- Garden apartment complexes in St. Louis County
- Buildings with corner storefronts on commercial streets such as Cherokee
Multifamily Financing for the Region's Larger Properties
Larger stabilized properties qualify for agency and institutional programs. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac set the pace, FHA/HUD carries the longest amortization, and CMBS rounds out the options, with non-recourse structures, leverage near 80% and fixed periods of up to 30 years all available. Whether a large property sits in the City or in St. Louis County matters here, because the lender will underwrite the tax rate and inspection rules of whichever jurisdiction it is actually in.
Read more about St. Louis multifamily loans, or start with the agencies themselves: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
St. Louis Multifamily Loan Rates
For larger balances, over $6 million
Other Property Loans in St. Louis
We also finance office, retail and industrial buildings in the city and county:
Nearby Apartment Loan Markets
Across the state in Kansas City, or anywhere else in Missouri:
Recent Apartment Loan Closings
Several of these recent closings are Midwest properties, in Indiana and Illinois, and each was priced across lenders the way a St. Louis request is.
What Our Clients Say
“I am a veterinarian who purchased an existing practice. I was surprised to find a company that offered 100% financing at a good rate, with great terms and rates for medical office financing.”
Carol K. · Chicago, IL“I spoke to several commercial lenders before finding Select Commercial. They got me a lower rate and their service was exceptional. If you need a multifamily loan, you need to talk to Stephen.”
Nathan B. · Philadelphia, PA“Select Commercial was very helpful with my multifamily mortgage. Stephen went over several options and we came up with the best lender to meet my needs. I got the funds and also lowered my payments.”
Gary M. · Portland, OR“Select Commercial offered 100% financing for my medical practice when my bank would have required 20% down. They delivered something my bank could not, and handled everything professionally.”
John C. · Boston, MAGet Your St. Louis Apartment Loan Quote
Email the rent roll, operating statements, 2025 assessment notice and current Certificates of Inspection for your St. Louis building, and you will get lender terms back in writing.
- No application or processing fees
- Written answers within 48 hours
- For 5+ unit and commercial properties, $1.5M and up