Noting that "nearly every measure of housing strength — sales, prices and permits — are trending upward," Charlie Boyce, president fo the Home Builders Association of St. Louis and Eastern Missouri has every reason to be optimistic about home building in the area. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that December 2012 saw fifty-eight percent more home building permits issued than a year prior. Overall, home building in the region was up twenty-six percent.

Unfortunately, this was limited to the metropolitan area. Areas further out from the metropolitan area saw a decline in 2012.