ST. LOUIS 鈥 Every year, the city auctions off hundreds of properties for unpaid property taxes, the fallout from decades of abandonment and population loss in a city half the size it was 50 years ago.
Even at bargain prices 鈥 often just a few thousand dollars in unpaid property taxes 鈥 many of those properties draw no takers and are shipped off to the owner of last resort, the Land Reutilization Authority, the city鈥檚 land bank.
This week, for the first time anyone can remember, every property at Tuesday鈥檚 tax sale was purchased, meaning that, if all the sales close, none will be transferred to LRA.
鈥淣ever have I ever seen zero,鈥 said Laura Costello, who has headed the city land bank since 2006.
It鈥檚 a milestone that may mostly reflect an incredibly hot real estate market and an unprecedented amount of money sloshing around in the system from billions in congressional relief spending and rock-bottom interest rate policies meant to juice the economy during the pandemic. But in a city that for decades had more property than it knew what to do with as hundreds of thousands left for the suburbs and neighborhoods crumbled, it鈥檚 unprecedented.
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The property auctions for unpaid taxes are lively affairs and the last chance to keep often abandoned properties from going to the city's land bank.聽
Dale Sweet, a local attorney and tax sale expert, suspects the hot housing market is pushing up prices as well as the popularity of the tax sales.
鈥淵ou can push a dog house out in the middle of the block right now and you鈥檒l have a bidding war and close in two days,鈥 he said.
Interest in the city鈥檚 delinquent property tax sales already had hit unprecedented levels last year, he said, even before COVID-19 vaccinations and a stable economy. 最新杏吧原创 Sheriff Vernon Betts鈥 office, which usually conducts the sales in the Civil Courts building, held them outside last year because of the pandemic. Prices went 鈥渟ky-high,鈥 Sweet said.
鈥淲e had hundreds of people, record numbers of people sign up to bid in the tax sale, more than would have ever fit in the courthouse lobby or the ceremonial courtroom,鈥 Sweet said of the 2020 tax sales.
Gregg Christian, a spokesman for the sheriff鈥檚 office who also serves as auctioneer during the tax sales, said no more than 200 people had attended past tax sales; more than 700 showed up last year. The office ran out of bid cards and had to make more.
This year, the city initially sued 200 property owners for unpaid taxes for the first tax sale. Just under 30 of the properties made it to the actual Tuesday auction. Property owners have several months to come forward and pay the back taxes. Other buyers can also try to pay off the taxes and work a deal out privately with the owner before the properties hit the public auction.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the amazing thing, too, how many properties were redeemed before the tax sale,鈥 said Costello, the LRA director.
The Land Reutilization Authority was the first city-run land bank established in the country, created by state statute as a way to more efficiently process the thousands of properties being abandoned in 最新杏吧原创 during the last half-century. The LRA had about as of June, and its inventory has been as high as 12,000 in recent years.
Reducing its inventory is going to take changes in state law, additional staff.聽
Costello said she鈥檚 noticed more interest in the tax sales and in the properties over the last four years or so. Fewer have been making their way to the land bank. Last year, only about 90 properties ended up at the LRA out of roughly 600 initially sued for back taxes, she said.
Meanwhile, a coalition of groups and city government have taken a concerted look at the city鈥檚 vacancy problem, working to provide legal help, establishing a land trust and increasing demolitions. A new city program with a dedicated funding stream has also begun to stabilize some LRA properties 鈥 often historic turn-of-the-20th-century houses 鈥 in hopes of better preserving them until buyers emerge.
A program approved by voters in 2017 is finally humming to life and could put $40 million into vacant buildings owned by the 最新杏吧原创 land bank.聽
Costello is hopeful the increased interest in tax sale properties will help her agency better care for the properties it owns and that the new owners will maintain the real estate purchased through the tax sales. The city forestry and building divisions will be burdened with maintenance costs if private owners aren鈥檛 keeping up with the properties.
Hundreds more properties were sued for back taxes last year, and they could come up for sale at
