Most ZIP codes in the San Francisco area have house values that have surpassed pre-recession peaks. In St. Louis, most of homes in the metro are still behind where they were a decade ago.
The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies examined housing recovery by income in the two cities, focusing more on properties in low-income ZIP codes.
Overall, home values in high-income ZIP Codes have outpaced home-value gains in low-income ZIPs since the price peak of the mid-2000s. When taking a broader view, low-income ZIP Codes have performed as well as high-income ZIPs since 2000 in fast-appreciating markets like San Francisco, while in many lagging markets, like St. Louis, home value gains in high-income ZIPs have typically surpassed those in low-income ZIPs.