May, 2011, Wichita, KS Real Estate Update

Home selling report for the nation and the
Wichita, KS metro area.
May, 2011

Home sales for April were nearly unchanged from the high levels seen in March in the RE/MAX National Housing report. Nearly ¼ of the transaction in April were investors, who may believe that prices have bottomed and interest rates will be headed higher. Nationally, Inventory levels continue to fall and home prices were up 2.2% from March (3rd month in a row).

Nationally home prices rose 2.2% in April over March but were still 7.9% below the mark set in April last year.

Wichita-area home sales got the expected spring push in April, up 12.9% from March of this year. Sales were 21.6% down from a year ago according to the Wichita Area Association of Realtors and year to date sales were down 16%. These numbers are down because of the Federal tax credit offered last year for 1st time buyers.

Locally, Stan Longhofer, Director of Wichita State’s Center for real estate, feels the market bottomed out late summer 2010. Sales numbers for the 2nd ½ of 2011 should give us a more realistic idea if the recovery is continued for South central, KS.

New residential listings for 2011 are down 951 units or about 18% from 2010. Existing sales are only down 390 units from last year so the months of inventory has dropped from a high of 10 months to around 7.5 months. This is good but is still a couple of months more than is needed for a balanced market.

New home inventory dropped 19.6% from a year ago and sales increased in April 50 units or 51.5% over April’s numbers. New home prices, nationally, are 30% higher than the median price of re-sales. National sales were up 7.3% in April over March, 2011 numbers.