AI and the St. Louis Rental Market: A Broker’s Take on the Future of Property Management

AI and the St. Louis Rental Market: A Broker’s Take on the Future of Property Management

Introduction: A Changing Landscape in St. Louis Real Estate

As the broker and owner of a St. Louis property management company, I’ve seen a lot of trends come and go. But nothing has shaken up the conversation lately quite like artificial intelligence (AI). From chatbots handling tenant questions to algorithms predicting maintenance needs, AI is making its way into the property management business. And with headlines about AI-driven layoffs, remote work migrations, inflation, and rising housing costs, you might wonder: how will all this affect the St. Louis rental market? In this blog (or perhaps more of an opinionated newsy rant), I’ll share my take on how AI could impact our local property management industry and renters – in plain language, from my boots-on-the-ground perspective as a St. Louis broker.

St. Louis has a unique real estate rhythm. Our region boasts affordable housing and a steady economy, but we’re not immune to big-picture forces. In 2024, median home prices in the St. Louis metro hit around $260,000 – up about 9% from the year before , signaling that our market has momentum. Rents have been ticking upward too. Average apartment rent in the city sits around $1,300–$1,400 as of early 2025 , with rents growing roughly 3–4% year-over-year . In fact, through August 2024 St. Louis rents jumped 3.8% YoY to about $1,275, outpacing the national rent growth rate of just 0.8% . Meanwhile, occupancy has held fairly strong (about 93.5% in mid-2024) despite a surge of new apartments . That tells me demand for rentals is still healthy here. Over half of St. Louis households (55%) are renters , so what happens in the rental market really matters to our community.

Now layer on AI and economic trends: Could automation put some property managers or maintenance folks out of a job? Will AI-fueled remote work let more people move to affordable cities like St. Louis (boosting our housing demand), or will local workers face new pressures? And with inflation and high interest rates making everything from groceries to mortgages pricier, can AI help cut costs or at least make our operations more efficient to keep rents in check? I don’t have a crystal ball, but I do have some strong opinions. Let’s break it down.

AI in Property Management: Tool, Teammate, or Terminator?

First off, what do we mean by AI in the property management world? It’s not about robots wandering around fixing leaky faucets (not yet, anyway!). It’s more about software and machine learning doing tasks that we used to do manually. In our company’s case, we already use an AI chatbot on our website to answer tenant inquiries. If you hop on our site at 2 AM with a question about a listing or how to pay rent, you’ll meet our bot before you reach a human. And honestly, it’s been a game-changer – this digital assistant can handle around the clock questions about maintenance requests, lease terms, rent payments and more with instant answers . It’s like having a 24/7 receptionist who never sleeps, which keeps our tenants happier and frees up our staff’s time . No more coming into the office to 50 voicemails on Monday morning – the AI has fielded the routine stuff.

And that’s just one example. Across the industry, AI is creeping into many facets of property management:

• Leasing and Lead Nurturing: When prospective renters reach out, AI can respond immediately via chat or even phone (yes, AI voice bots exist) to answer questions, schedule showings, or gather info. Large firms report deploying AI leasing agents named Elise, Colleen, Zuma, etc., to manage the flood of inquiries and keep potential renters engaged until a human can step in at the critical moments . Dominium, a big property management company, said AI has been “incredibly beneficial” in nurturing thousands of leads for their apartments, ensuring no inquiry falls through the cracks . In our St. Louis market, we may not get 10,000 calls a week, but even a modest volume is easier to handle with an AI assistant tagging in.

• Tenant Screening and On-Boarding: Evaluating rental applications can be tedious. Now, AI tools can automatically screen tenant applications, checking credit, rental history, and even flagging red flags – all in minutes . This not only saves us time but can also reduce human bias in the screening process (a nice perk, since fairness and fair-housing compliance are huge). I’m excited about this because it means we can identify quality tenants faster and fill vacancies sooner, and do it in a more objective way. Some AI screening platforms even claim to predict which tenants are likely to pay on time and renew, which if true, could mean lower turnover and vacancy periods for landlords .

• Maintenance and Repairs: This is one area where I see huge potential. Think about all the maintenance requests that come in – leaky sink here, AC not cooling there. AI can help triage and even predict these issues. For instance, AI algorithms can analyze data from smart building sensors or maintenance logs to predict equipment failures before they happen . It’s called predictive maintenance. If the HVAC in your building is running a pattern that suggests a component might fail, AI can alert us to service it proactively . That means fewer surprise breakdowns, happier tenants, and lower repair bills (catch the small problem before it becomes a big one). Even without fancy sensors, an AI system can parse maintenance tickets to find recurring issues – like noticing that Unit 3B has submitted the same plumbing complaint three times – and remind us to find the root cause. By catching issues early, we reduce downtime and emergency fixes , which ultimately saves money and aggravation for everyone. We’re not quite at robo-plumbers, but an AI that optimizes our maintenance schedule and sends automatic reminders (“It’s been 6 months since the last HVAC tune-up”) is basically an assistant facilities manager. In fact, some AI tools will even automatically coordinate scheduling with vendors and tenants for routine maintenance , eliminating the back-and-forth phone tag.

• Rent Collection and Finances: Chasing late rent is one of the least fun parts of this job. Believe it or not, AI can take on some of that awkwardness. For example, one AI persona named “Penny” is being used by a property management firm to reach out to tenants behind on rent – first sending a friendly text, then an email, then even a phone call if needed . Penny provides a link to pay and politely nudges the tenant, so by the time a human has to get involved, many folks have already handled their balance. This kind of digital collections agent operates uniformly and without the emotional charge a human might bring (Penny doesn’t get frustrated or judgmental – she just follows up). We haven’t tried this at my company yet, but it’s on the radar. Additionally, AI can spit out automated reports on things like occupancy rates, rent roll, and maintenance expenses . The number-crunching and spreadsheet updating that used to take hours can now be done in seconds, giving me real-time data to make decisions. I’ll never complain about having better, faster intel – that helps me adjust strategy (like if I see occupancies slipping, maybe we need to step up marketing or adjust rent).

• Dynamic Pricing: Here’s a controversial one – setting rents using AI. Some larger apartment operators use revenue management software (a bit like airlines or hotels do) that suggests optimal rent prices based on supply, demand, seasonality, and competitor pricing. These systems can adjust rents in real time for new leases or renewals. If demand is high, the algorithm nudges prices up; if a unit’s been sitting vacant, it might recommend a special or slight discount to fill it. I haven’t implemented this yet in our St. Louis portfolio (our market is smaller and less volatile than, say, downtown Chicago or NYC), but it’s something on the horizon. One AI platform, EliseAI, claims it helped increase occupancies by 2% for its users and saved millions in payroll by automating so much of the leasing workflow . That kind of efficiency – higher occupancy and lower overhead – is the property owner’s dream, though as I’ll discuss next, there’s a people side to consider too.

Efficiency vs. Layoffs: Will AI Cost Jobs in Property Management?

Whenever I bring up these shiny AI tools at industry meetups, someone inevitably asks, “But aren’t you worried this will replace property management jobs?” It’s a fair question – and one I grapple with. As a business owner, of course I’m looking at tools that improve efficiency and save costs. But I also value my team and the human element of our work. So where’s the balance?

Let’s be real: AI is already displacing some roles, or at least shrinking staffs, in our field. I’ve heard of an apartment complex (not in St. Louis) that literally eliminated an assistant property manager position and replaced that person with an AI virtual assistant* . They went from three staff in the office down to two, and introduced a chatbot named “Harper” to handle the routine tasks . That’s one less salary to pay. The corporate owners are probably happy with the payroll savings, but it’s cold comfort to the person whose job was essentially automated away. And guess what? Tenants notice these things too – the rumor on Reddit is that residents jokingly asked the bot if their rent would be lowered now that there’s one fewer human on payroll . (Surprise, surprise: the AI politely said no rent negotiations allowed.) So yes, AI-driven layoffs are not just theoretical; they’re happening in pockets of the industry.

However, I’d argue that scenario isn’t the whole story. Many of us see AI as more of a tool for our staff, not a replacement for our staff. A vice president at Dominium (one of the largest apartment operators) addressed this directly: “AI is a supplement to human interaction. It is not a replacement,” she said . I tend to agree. There are certain things an AI can’t do well – especially in a people-centric business like housing. You can automate rent reminders or maintenance scheduling, but an AI can’t yet walk a property and notice that a lightbulb is out in the hallway, or calm down a really upset tenant in the office with empathy. Those require human touch and on-the-ground intuition. Emotional intelligence, creative problem-solving, and that personal St. Louis friendly approach – those remain firmly in human hands for now .

In fact, some companies are using AI because they struggle to hire enough humans. Post-COVID, hiring has been tough in many service industries, and property management is no exception. The Dominium exec noted that since the pandemic, it’s been hard to find and retain on-site employees, so tools like AI help “keep the business nimble” when staffing is lean . I can vouch for that: a couple of years ago we had a hell of a time filling a receptionist position and a leasing agent role – lots of interviews, candidates ghosting us, or demanding higher pay as inflation surged. That pressure pushed me to try the chatbot and other software. So in our case, AI wasn’t about firing someone; it was about covering the gaps because we couldn’t find someone fast enough. And by automating the repetitive stuff, we freed our limited team to focus on higher-value work. Our humans aren’t stuck answering “What’s the pet policy?” 20 times a day – the AI handles that – so they can spend more time doing property tours or resolving complex issues that truly need a manager’s insight. In other words, I see AI taking over the drudgery, not the whole job.

Of course, I don’t want to sound naïve. There likely will be some contraction in administrative roles over time. If one manager with AI can now do the work that used to require two or three people, companies might not hire as many people moving forward. But those roles might morph rather than vanish. We might see more “AI coordinator” jobs – folks who oversee the AI systems, train them, and step in when the bots get stuck. One interesting thing about the AI assistants (like the chatbot “Zuma” used at another firm) is that they often have human oversight: if the AI can’t answer a question or gets confused, it flags a human to intervene . It’s a bit like co-piloting with the AI. So the skill set for property management staff may shift toward being tech-savvy customer service reps, able to manage both the software and the people side. I tell my team, “We’re not going to be replaced by robots, but we all might need to learn to work with the robots.”

From an ownership perspective, I also have to consider the optics and ethics: I don’t want my company to be known as the one that canned all its staff in favor of automation. Property management is a relationship business in St. Louis – many of our clients and tenants value knowing there’s a real person they can talk to who also knows them. The last thing I want is to lose that personal touch and community trust. So for us, AI will remain a helper, not the star. It might trim some labor costs or at least help us grow without adding as many people, but I don’t foresee a mass layoff at our office because of AI anytime soon. If anything, I see us repurposing roles: maybe our receptionist becomes a “tenant success manager” who focuses on ensuring satisfaction while the AI answers phones. That could enrich the job rather than eliminate it.

Migration and Remote Work: Will AI Move People Around?

St. Louis isn’t Silicon Valley or Seattle – we’re not the first place people mention in the same breath as “AI boomtown.” But AI’s ripple effects on jobs and lifestyle could still influence migration patterns that touch us here. Two angles come to mind:

1. Remote Work and Tech Migration: The AI revolution goes hand-in-hand with a broader tech shift – more jobs can be done remotely or with minimal on-site staff. If AI allows companies (tech or otherwise) to let employees work from anywhere, we might see more folks choosing where to live based on cost of living and quality of life, not office location. And guess what? St. Louis shines in those departments – affordable housing, manageable traffic, and plenty of big-city amenities. Our cost of living is well below the national average , and we have a growing tech and education scene. If you’re a programmer or analyst who can suddenly work remotely for a coastal firm (thanks to AI tools making collaboration easy), St. Louis looks pretty attractive compared to paying $3,000 a month for a shoebox in San Francisco. In fact, experts recently ranked St. Louis as the 6th hottest housing market for 2025 – one reason being our relative affordability and high demand . We’re already seeing some influx of out-of-state buyers and renters who realize they can get a lot more house or apartment for their dollar here. AI could accelerate that trend by breaking the geographic tether of certain jobs.

On the flip side, if AI causes major layoffs in tech-heavy cities, some people might leave those areas in search of new opportunities or cheaper living. We might benefit if even a slice of those laid-off workers decide to relocate here to reboot their careers without draining their savings on rent. Our metro population actually saw a modest net gain of around 6,400 people last year (July 2023 to July 2024) after years of little growth, largely thanks to people moving here from abroad . While we still lost some folks to other U.S. cities, this bump from newcomers (many of them with skills to contribute) is encouraging. If AI and remote work make it feasible, I’d love to see St. Louis continue to attract fresh talent – whether it’s international students/researchers, remote tech workers, or entrepreneurs drawn by our lower costs. More people means more demand for housing, which is good for rental owners (and property managers like me) because it fills units and supports rent prices.

2. Local Job Automation and Out-Migration: Now for a less rosy scenario – what if AI starts displacing jobs in industries that St. Louis relies on? We’re not a major tech hub, but we do have sectors like financial services, health care, and manufacturing/logistics that employ thousands. AI could streamline roles in those fields (think AI in accounting or customer service, or robots in warehouses). If that leads to layoffs locally, some workers might have to leave the region to find new jobs or might leave the workforce altogether for a while. That could reduce housing demand here if enough people are affected. One stat caught my eye: in mid-2024, St. Louis saw overall job growth of 1.6%, adding about 32,900 jobs year-over-year – not bad, actually a bit higher growth than the U.S. average. But notably, the “professional and business services” and “information” sectors lost roughly 4,200 jobs combined . Those sectors include a lot of office jobs and possibly tech roles. It’s unclear how much of that was due to AI automation versus other economic factors, but it shows some white-collar roles were indeed trimmed. If AI allows companies to do the same work with fewer people, St. Louis might feel some pinch in those job categories. And when good-paying jobs leave, often the people follow (or at least their spending drops, which can soften the housing market).

The key for St. Louis will be to adapt. We are already pushing to diversify our economy – expanding tech startups, geospatial intelligence jobs (with the new NGA campus), and healthcare innovation. There’s an optimistic stat from late 2024: St. Louis is expanding in tech, healthcare, and education sectors, which helps draw people to the area . If AI is the future, I want to see those future-oriented companies grow right here, providing new jobs to offset any that automation kills. A city like ours, which isn’t over-saturated with tech jobs yet, could potentially leapfrog by embracing AI industries. And more tech jobs locally might mean some of those remote workers eventually decide to get an office here or move here anyway.

From the rental market perspective, migration trends are something I watch closely. More people moving in than out generally equals higher demand for apartments, lower vacancies, and upward pressure on rents. If people start moving out (for lack of jobs or other reasons), the opposite can happen – more supply than demand, so landlords compete and potentially lower rents or offer concessions. Right now, the St. Louis metro’s population is basically flat with a slight upward tilt due to migration , and our housing supply is expanding modestly but not enough to cause a glut. That balance is why rents are still rising a few percent a year and occupancy is in the mid-90s percent. AI’s broad impacts on migration likely won’t flip that overnight, but it’s on my radar. If I get wind of a major employer laying off hundreds due to automation, I might brace for a short-term rise in vacancy in certain submarkets (say, if a plant in a suburb automates and layoffs occur, local rentals might see folks leaving). Conversely, if I hear a new tech center or AI research facility is opening here, I’ll expect a flurry of relocation renters looking for housing.

Inflation and Costs: Can AI Ease the Squeeze?

You can’t talk about today’s economy without mentioning inflation – we all felt it the past couple years. The cost of everything from lumber to lawn care went up. As a property manager and owner, inflation hits from all sides: vendors raised prices, property taxes went up with rising values, wages for staff had to climb, and yes, rents went up too(partly to keep up with those costs). St. Louis saw relatively strong rent growth through 2022-2024, and home prices jumped as well, in part due to the inflationary environment and high demand . While inflation has cooled off a bit by mid-2025, it’s still higher than the near-zero we got used to for a decade.

Where does AI come in here? Mainly in its potential to improve productivity and cut operational costs. If I can use an AI system to do the work of a couple administrative employees, that’s a labor cost saving (though I might reallocate those workers to other tasks, as discussed). If predictive maintenance AI helps avoid a major plumbing disaster, that saves thousands in repairs. If a chatbot handles after-hours tenant calls, we might not need to pay as much for on-call service or overtime. All these efficiencies, in theory, help trim the fat and could slow down the need to raise rents just to cover expenses. I’m not saying landlords will suddenly get generous and drop rents (don’t worry, tenants, I hear your cynicism!). But think about it: if our expenses stabilize because AI makes us more efficient, we may be able to keep rent increases more moderate even if inflation in the broader economy persists. It’s similar to any tech that boosts productivity – over time it tends to have a disinflationary effect (more output for the same input). A study or two I’ve read even suggest AI could slightly reduce long-term inflation by increasing economic productivity, though that’s an economy-wide view and still speculative.

In the short term, AI is actually requiring more investment – these systems aren’t cheap. We’ve budgeted for new software subscriptions, maybe IoT devices for buildings, and training. But I consider it an investment that will pay off by lowering other costs. If I can avoid hiring another full-time staff as we grow because the AI platforms extend our capacity, that’s tens of thousands saved annually. If energy management AI can learn our building usage patterns and shave 5% off utility bills, that’s gold in an inflationary time for energy prices. These are small pieces, but they add up. Property management is a low-margin business, so any edge on cost control helps us keep our services affordable and our clients (the property owners) happy with their bottom line.

Also, consider how inflation and high interest rates have made buying a home tougher for people. Mortgage rates jumped over the past year, pricing some would-be buyers out and keeping them renting longer. This dynamic is actually putting upward pressure on rents nationally – more demand in rental market as folks wait out the expensive buying conditions. St. Louis, being more affordable, hasn’t had as severe an affordability crunch as coastal cities, but we’re not immune. If AI in the finance sector eventually helps bring down mortgage rates or streamline construction (e.g., AI helping builders be more efficient, thus adding housing supply cheaper), that could ease home price growth and give renters more options to buy. But those effects are likely years away. For now, with interest rates still relatively high, many St. Louis families are renting by necessity, which is propping up the rental market. Frankly, that’s one reason experts predict St. Louis home prices will keep rising (forecasted 5-7% in 2025) – because supply is tight and demand is steady. As a property manager, I see an opportunity to serve this growing renter population, and AI helps us do it without letting our costs (and thus rents) spiral too fast in an inflationary environment.

Home Prices and Rental Prices in the AI Era

Let’s talk dollars and cents on housing. As mentioned, home values in St. Louis have been on an upward trend, with the metro median around $260k and climbing . For renters, the average rent in the city is roughly $1,300+ and rising a few percent each year . How might AI influence these numbers in the coming years?

Home Prices: In the long run, if AI significantly boosts productivity in construction or material design, it could lower the cost of building homes. Imagine AI-optimized construction schedules, or even robots building houses – if that pans out, more housing supply could come online quicker and cheaper, which might slow home price appreciation. However, that’s a distant prospect. In the near term, I suspect AI’s influence on home prices will be more indirect, through economic growth or decline. For instance, if AI spurs a boom in productivity across industries, maybe wages rise and more people can afford homes, pushing prices up. Or if AI leads to a winner-takes-all effect where certain tech hubs thrive (and maybe St. Louis becomes one of them?), those areas could see a surge in housing demand. Right now, St. Louis is still considered very affordable compared to other major markets , which ironically might shield us from extreme volatility. We don’t have a tech bubble inflating local home prices to unsustainable levels, so an AI boom likely won’t suddenly double our home prices overnight. Instead, I foresee continued moderate growth in home values (mid to high single-digit percentages annually) barring any economic shock. If anything, the presence of AI in real estate might make homebuying more efficient for consumers – AI-driven platforms could help buyers find bargains or predict neighborhood up-and-coming spots – but that just makes the market more informed, not necessarily cheaper.

Rental Prices: On the rental side, AI could have a more immediate effect via those dynamic pricing algorithms I mentioned. Large apartment operators using AI pricing tend to push rents to the optimal point of what the market can bear. In plain English, if the AI sees that occupancy is 97% and lots of traffic is coming in, it might raise rents a notch higher than a human would have dared. That could nudge rents upward in hot periods. Conversely, if a market cools, the AI might lower rents faster to fill units, which could help avoid huge vacancy spikes. In St. Louis, some big multifamily owners likely already use these tools. For smaller landlords like the mom-and-pop owners we manage for, we still set rents the old-fashioned way (comparables, intuition, and maybe a spreadsheet). But over time, this tech will become more accessible, and we’ll use it to ensure our clients get the best return and remain competitive. The goal is finding that sweet spot where units rent quickly but owners aren’t leaving money on the table. If AI helps achieve that, it could actually smooth out rent swings – fewer drastic underpriced deals and fewer egregiously overpriced units sitting empty.

The broader economic factors will still play the biggest role in rent prices: supply of housing, local incomes, population changes. St. Louis has had steady rent growth (3-4% lately) and respectable occupancy , partly because we’re adding new units at a reasonable pace and attracting enough renters to fill them. In 2024, nearly 2,000 new apartments were delivered in the metro and more are under construction . Our occupancy dipped a bit as those new units hit (down about 0.8 percentage points to 93.5%) , but that’s still a tight market. If AI causes a surge of in-migration (best case) or a wave of job losses (worst case), that could tilt the supply-demand balance. However, I doubt AI effects will be that sudden. It’s more likely we’ll see a gradual influence. For example, if local companies adopt AI and become more productive, maybe they expand and hire more (human) workers in new roles – which increases housing demand. Or if AI enables more gig/remote work, maybe more young professionals choose renting for flexibility, boosting rental demand further.

One interesting local stat: Investors traded $426 million worth of St. Louis multifamily properties in the first eight months of 2024 , and while prices per unit actually fell about 20% (perhaps due to higher interest rates) , it shows significant investment interest in our rental market. Some of those investors are betting on rent growth and are likely employing advanced analytics (if not outright AI) to maximize returns. As they implement professional management and AI tools, they might raise the bar for rent pricing – meaning mom-and-pop landlords will have to stay savvy to keep up. As a property manager, my job will increasingly involve leveraging data (often via AI) to advise our property owners on setting rents and marketing effectively. If we don’t, the big guys using AI will eat our lunch.

In summary, I don’t foresee AI causing rent or home prices in St. Louis to skyrocket or crash in the next couple years. Rather, it will gradually become part of the toolkit that shapes pricing. We’ll still be primarily driven by fundamental factors like how many people need housing and how many units are available. And on that front, I’m optimistic: St. Louis is not overbuilt at the moment, and demand is steady. In fact, being ranked a “hot” market suggests we might see rents continue to climb modestly (perhaps another 2-4% in the coming year) and home prices follow suit with mid-single-digit gains . AI’s role will be helping property managers and landlords navigate those changes more efficiently, rather than suddenly changing the direction of the market.

The Future of Property Management: Balancing Tech and Human Touch

The way I see it, the property management business in St. Louis (and everywhere) is at an inflection point. We have this new powerhouse technology – AI – that can make our work easier, faster, and arguably more cost-effective. But we also have to remember what our business is fundamentally about: homes and people. If we lean too hard into tech and forget the human element, we risk alienating the very clients and tenants we serve.

Here’s my personal commitment as a broker/owner: I’ll embrace AI where it improves service, but not at the expense of customer experience. For our company, that means using AI for the boring stuff – the 80% of inquiries that are routine, the data entry, the scheduling and reminders – so that our team can focus on the 20% that really matters, like building relationships, solving unique problems, and planning strategies for our property owners. I love how one industry colleague put it: thanks to AI, “staff at properties can be more present when a customer walks into the office” . The AI handles the ringing phones and unanswered emails in the background, so when you, the tenant, come in to talk to us, we can give you our full attention face-to-face . That’s the ideal synergy – technology making the human interaction moremeaningful, not less.

We also plan to be transparent about our use of AI with our clients. Already, owners who hire us to manage their properties like hearing that we use cutting-edge tools (it signals we’re being efficient and proactive). But tenants deserve transparency too – if they’re talking to a bot, we shouldn’t trick them into thinking it’s a human. Most people can tell, anyway. Instead, we frame it as a convenience: “Hey, we have a chatbot that can instantly help you with many things, and if it can’t, our team will follow up.” So far, I’ve seen mostly positive reactions. The younger renters almost expect a self-service digital option. Some older or less techy folks still prefer calling – and that’s fine; we’re not shutting down our phone lines or anything.

Another focus for the future will be data security and accuracy. AI is only as good as the data it’s fed. We handle sensitive info – tenant data, payment info, etc. It’s crucial that any AI or software we use has robust security. And we have to watch for AI errors. Anyone who’s played with ChatGPT knows it can sometimes “hallucinate” or give a confidently wrong answer. The last thing I need is an AI telling a prospect incorrect rent pricing or a tenant the wrong procedure for something. That’s why I think the human oversight remains vital – we’ll continuously monitor and train our AI tools. We might even “localize” them to St. Louis nuances (for example, making sure our chatbot knows the difference between Soulard and Soulard – i.e., local pronunciations and particulars).

For those in the property management field reading this, my two cents: Don’t ignore AI, and don’t fear it blindly. It’s here, and as one executive said, “If you are not integrating AI into your business, you need to.” That’s coming from a place of seeing the efficiency gains and improved communication it can offer. But at the same time, differentiate your service by what only you (a human) can do – empathize, creatively problem-solve, and connect with clients. In a Midwestern city like ours, people appreciate friendliness and trust. AI can assist, but it can’t be your friendly neighborhood property manager who knows Mrs. Jones in 2A has a kid graduating high school or that Mr. Smith in B building always chats about the Cardinals. Those personal touches are on us to maintain.

Conclusion: Adapting to AI – The St. Louis Way

The St. Louis rental market and property management industry stand to be affected by AI in many ways, but not all doom and gloom. Yes, automation might streamline operations and even reduce certain jobs, but it also presents opportunities to improve customer service and manage properties more effectively. In a time of layoffs and rapid change in other cities, St. Louis could remain comparatively stable – or even benefit from newcomers – due to our balanced economy and affordability. We’re seeing solid growth in home values and rents here, with median home prices around $295k and rising, and rents up about 3-4% annually . Those trends are shaped by supply and demand, which in turn are influenced by bigger forces like migration and inflation. AI is one of those forces now, operating behind the scenes.

From where I sit as a broker/owner, I’m both an AI enthusiast and a St. Louis realist. I’ll leverage AI to keep our business competitive – whether it’s using chatbots to handle 80% of tenant questions so we can focus on the tough 20%, or adopting predictive maintenance to cut costs and prevent emergencies . At the same time, I know this is a people business in a city that values community. Our strategy is to pair the efficiency of AI with the empathy of our team. The end goal: better service for tenants, better returns for owners, and a more nimble operation for us. If AI can help a St. Louis property management company weather the storms of layoffs, inflation, and market swings while keeping a personal touch, then I’d say that’s the best of both worlds.

In the coming months and years, I’ll be keeping a close eye on how these tech-driven changes play out. Will we see a wave of tech migrants settling in the Central West End or Clayton, shaking up the rental scene? Will some leasing offices go mostly virtual with AI, while others double-down on human staff as a selling point? Time will tell. One thing’s for sure: AI isn’t a distant future concept – it’s here in St. Louis, working quietly in our industry right now. And like the Arch that symbolizes our city, we in the property management biz are learning to bridge the old ways with the new technology, creating a gateway to a new era of managing properties in the Lou.

Have questions or thoughts on AI in real estate? Feel free to reach out – whether you chat with me or my chatbot, we’d love to hear your perspective! 😄

Sources: Recent market reports and industry insights were referenced in crafting this article. Key stats about St. Louis rent growth and occupancy come from Yardi Matrix’s St. Louis multifamily report . Home price trends were noted from local real estate analyses (House Sold Easy blog) . Population and migration data are based on U.S. Census updates reported in 2025 . Insights on AI in property management and quotes from industry professionals were drawn from a Tax Credit Advisor piece on AI adoption , as well as examples of AI tools like EliseAI and others . These sources help provide context for the St. Louis market and the broader changes affecting our business.