Houses in St. Louis appreciated in value by 2.56 percent last year, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight reported today. That’s well above the 0.8 percent increase for the nation as a whole, based on an OFHEO index that includes both purchases and refinancings.

St.Louis home prices rose 1.32 percent in the fourth quarter alone, and they’re up 31.7 percent in the past five years. In the third quarter, OFHEO had reported a slight decline in St. Louis prices.

Keep in mind that a 2.56 percent increase wasn’t enough to keep up with inflation of 4.1 percent in 2007, so homeowners lost ground in real terms. This year could look much the same, according to a forecast presented Monday by St. Louis University economist David Rapach. SLU’s Simon Center for Regional Economic Forecasting predicts that Missouri home prices, adjusted for inflation, will fall 1.8 percent this year. (The St. Louis and Missouri price indexes track each other very closely, Simon Center Director Jack Strauss tells me.)