- On Zillow's September 2026 figures, the typical St. Louis city home ($176,514, renting at $1,287) reaches a DSCR of about 0.98 at 80% leverage and 1.03 at 75%, at an example 7.5% rate. St. Louis County's typical home ($285,675 at $1,490) reaches about 0.70.
- The city is a two-family-flat market: 26.3% of its housing units are in buildings with two to four units, against 6.5% in St. Louis County. Two rents on one building can lift the ratio a long way.
- In the worked example, a $200,000 two-family flat with two $1,025 units reaches a DSCR of about 1.47 at 75% leverage. With one unit empty, the rent covers only about 0.73 of the payment.
- Some of the metro's cheapest ZIPs fall below lenders' floors: an 80% loan on Jennings' typical $83,428 home is about $66,700, under published minimums of $70,000 to $100,000.
- On the Illinois side, rough effective tax rates of 1.92% to 2.03% in Madison and St. Clair counties cut the price that clears 1.00 to roughly $142,000 to $159,000.
Two jurisdictions, two markets
St. Louis city is its own county-level jurisdiction, counted separately from St. Louis County in Census data, with its own assessor and its own tax rates. For a DSCR loan in St. Louis, that split matters more than any neighborhood name, because the two places differ on the three inputs that move the ratio most: price, rent and the kind of building you're buying.
The table runs each jurisdiction's typical home through one loan: Zillow's September 2026 typical value and typical rent, a 30-year fixed at 7.5%, and insurance at NerdWallet's March 2026 sample homeowners rate for the nearest dwelling-coverage tier: $2,100 a year for $200,000 of coverage in Missouri, $2,080 in Illinois. NerdWallet's St. Louis average ran about 3% below its Missouri figure, so the state rates are used as they are. The 7.5% is an example, not a quote. It sits inside the 7.125% to 7.875% rates Easy Street Capital lists on its recently funded St. Louis DSCR purchase loans. Those are owner-occupant sample rates; get a landlord-policy quote. Tax rates are each jurisdiction's median real estate tax bill divided by its median home value in the Census Bureau's 2020–2024 American Community Survey, a rough effective rate.
| Jurisdiction | Typical value | Typical rent | Tax rate | DSCR at 80% | DSCR at 75% | Price that hits 1.00 at 80% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis city | $176,514 | $1,287 | 1.03% | 0.98 | 1.03 | $172,000 |
| St. Louis County | $285,675 | $1,490 | 1.20% | 0.70 | 0.74 | $199,000 |
| St. Charles County | $372,123 | $1,664 | 1.08% | 0.61 | 0.64 | $229,000 |
| Jefferson County | $291,892 | $1,582 | 0.80% | 0.76 | 0.80 | $225,000 |
| Madison County, Ill. | $197,597 | $1,196 | 1.92% | 0.75 | 0.78 | $142,000 |
| St. Clair County, Ill. | $177,682 | $1,333 | 2.03% | 0.91 | 0.95 | $159,000 |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
Only the city's typical home gets to 1.00, and only at 75% leverage. To reach 1.00 on the typical house elsewhere you'd borrow about 48% of value in St. Louis County, 39% in St. Charles and 56% in Jefferson. Freddie Mac put the conventional 30-year average at 7.24% on October 29, 2026, so the squeeze isn't unique to investor loans.
The city is a two-family-flat market
St. Louis city's housing stock looks nothing like its suburbs'. In the Census Bureau's 2020–2024 survey, 26.3% of the city's housing units were in buildings with two to four units, roughly half of them in two-unit buildings. In St. Louis County the share was 6.5%, and in St. Charles County 4.0%. More than a third of the city's renter households, 36.4%, lived in two- to four-unit buildings. The city's median home was built in 1939 or earlier; the county's in 1969.
That changes how you read the indexes. Zillow's value index covers single-family homes and condos, while its rent index also counts units in multifamily buildings. In a ZIP full of two-family flats, a single unit's rent set against a house's value understates what a flat can earn, because one building collects two rents.
Lenders generally treat two- to four-unit buildings as residential rentals. RCN Capital's long-term rental program covers non-owner-occupied one- to four-family property, Kiavi lists two- to four-unit properties as eligible, and Crossroads Investment Lending's DSCR program names small multifamily of two to four units. Five or more units is a commercial loan with its own underwriting.
Worked example: a $200,000 two-family flat in the city
Say you're buying a two-family flat in St. Louis city for $200,000. Each unit is a two-bedroom, and signed leases on comparable flats nearby support $1,025 a month per unit, below the city's 2020–2024 median gross rent of $1,143 for a two-bedroom (gross rent includes tenant-paid utilities, so the lease figure should be lower). The numbers are illustrative.
| Line | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Loan: 75% of $200,000 = $150,000, 30-year fixed at 7.5% | $1,048.82 principal and interest |
| Property tax at 1.03% of price | $171.56 |
| Insurance (Missouri sample rate, $200,000 of coverage) | $175.00 |
| Total payment (PITIA) | $1,395.38 |
| Rent: two units at $1,025 | $2,050 |
| DSCR | 1.47 |
| Cash down payment | $50,000, before closing costs and reserves |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
A 1.47 is a comfortable ratio by any lender's standard. The risk in a flat is concentration: lose one tenant and the building collects $1,025 against a $1,395 payment, about 0.73, until the unit re-leases. The lender's ratio at closing won't show that, so your reserves have to. The Census survey put the city's rental vacancy rate at about 7.7% over 2020–2024, against about 5.0% in St. Louis County.
ZIP by ZIP across the metro
| ZIP | Location | Typical value | Typical rent | Rent ÷ value | DSCR at 80% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 63136 | Jennings (St. Louis County) | $83,428 | $1,291 | 1.55% | 1.78 |
| 63135 | Ferguson (St. Louis County) | $110,358 | $1,401 | 1.27% | 1.55 |
| 63111 | St. Louis city | $119,322 | $1,033 | 0.87% | 1.09 |
| 63031 | Florissant (St. Louis County) | $177,420 | $1,569 | 0.88% | 1.17 |
| 63118 | St. Louis city | $177,324 | $1,186 | 0.67% | 0.90 |
| 63116 | St. Louis city | $179,762 | $1,093 | 0.61% | 0.82 |
| 63139 | St. Louis city | $222,821 | $1,305 | 0.59% | 0.81 |
| 63123 | Affton (St. Louis County) | $246,724 | $1,452 | 0.59% | 0.81 |
| 63104 | St. Louis city | $291,940 | $1,423 | 0.49% | 0.67 |
| 63376 | St. Peters (St. Charles County) | $328,221 | $1,723 | 0.52% | 0.73 |
| 63129 | Oakville (St. Louis County) | $343,112 | $1,485 | 0.43% | 0.59 |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
Read the city rows with the flats point in mind: 63116 and 63118 look weak on a single unit's rent, but a two-family building there earns two. North County ZIPs such as Jennings, Ferguson and Florissant show the strongest single-unit ratios in the sample, which is also where lenders' minimums start to bite.
When the house is too cheap to finance
Several lenders publish a floor on loan size or property value, and in St. Louis that floor sits inside the market. In nine of the city's 16 ZIP codes, Zillow's bottom-tier index, which tracks the cheapest third of homes, was under $115,000 in September 2026.
| Lender | Minimum loan | Minimum value | Minimum DSCR | Max leverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RCN Capital | $70,000 | $115,000 as-is appraised value | 1.00 | 80% purchase; 75% cash-out |
| Kiavi | $75,000 | — | As low as 0.8x | Up to 80% |
| Crossroads Investment Lending | $100,000 | — | — | Up to 80% |
| Easy Street Capital (Missouri) | — | — | No minimum | 80% purchase or refinance; 75% cash-out |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
An 80% loan on Jennings' typical $83,428 home is about $66,700, under all three published loan minimums. On Ferguson's typical $110,358 home it's about $88,300: enough for RCN's and Kiavi's loan minimums, short of Crossroads', and on a house below RCN's $115,000 value floor. A strong ratio doesn't help if the loan is too small to write, so ask about floors before you make an offer.
An inspection before every new tenant
In St. Louis city, a rental unit needs a Certificate of Inspection before anyone moves in. The Building Division's occupancy page says all property in the city lies in a Housing Conservation District, lists a $120 application ($200 if a tenant is found living in a unit without a current certificate, and $65 for each additional unit at the same address), and says a certificate is valid for 12 months. The same page calls for reinspection every three years or at each change in occupancy for rental units. Confirm the current rules with the Building Division when you buy.
Many St. Louis County municipalities run their own checks. University City requires an occupancy inspection before any new tenant moves in, Ferguson requires an occupancy permit at every change of owner, occupant or use, with interior and exterior inspections for rentals, and Kirkwood requires a permit and inspection at every change in occupancy. Build that time into your plan: a unit that can't legally be occupied can't produce the rent your ratio counts on.
Across the river: Illinois tax bills
The metro reaches into Illinois, and the tax line changes there. The Census figures give Madison County a rough effective rate of 1.92% and St. Clair County 2.03%, against 1.03% in St. Louis city and 1.20% in St. Louis County. On a $175,000 house, 2.03% instead of 1.03% adds about $146 a month to the payment, which is the difference between a ratio near 1.0 and one near 0.9 on a $1,300 rent. Confirm that your lender makes loans in Illinois before you go further; not every Missouri lender does.
What St. Louis DSCR loans have priced at
Published deal tickets give a better sense of real pricing than advertised floors. Easy Street Capital's page of recently funded Missouri loans, read November 4, 2026, lists St. Louis single-family DSCR loans of $171,200 at 7.875% and $237,600 at 7.125%, both purchases at 80% leverage, and a $127,500 rate-and-term refinance at 7.375% and 75%. Your rate depends on your credit, the leverage, the ratio and the prepayment terms you choose.
Where a United Lending rental loan fits
United Lending's DSCR rental loans are qualified on the property's rent. Our limits are up to 85% LTV on a purchase, up to 80% on a cash-out refinance, a 620 minimum credit score, a 0.75 minimum DSCR and a $75,000 minimum loan. Those are separate limits, not one combined offer: the highest leverage goes to stronger credit and rent coverage, and a lower score or ratio means lower leverage. The loan floor matters here too: the 80% loan of about $66,700 on Jennings' typical house falls under it. Every one is a business-purpose loan on a rental held for investment, never on a home the borrower or a relative occupies.
Before you offer in St. Louis
- Confirm the jurisdiction. City or county, and if county, which municipality. Each sets its own taxes and its own occupancy rules.
- Price the rent per unit from signed leases on comparable flats or houses, not from the listing.
- Estimate the tax bill at your price with the city or county assessor's rate, not the seller's bill.
- Get a landlord insurance quote for the building's age and unit count.
- Run the ratio with every unit leased and with one empty, and hold reserves for the second case.
- Check the lender's floors on loan size, value and DSCR.
Comparing markets? The Kansas City DSCR guide runs the same numbers county by county, and BRRRR in Kansas City and St. Louis covers buying a flat that needs work and refinancing it on the rent.