Kansas City real estate market bucks national trend, home sales increase

Despite continuing concern about the health of the nation’s housing market, the Kansas City area managed to post modestly encouraging numbers in June.

Locally, sales of existing and new homes were 3.8 percent higher last month as sales in the rest of the nation declined. In addition, Kansas City saw a drop in unsold inventory.

Sales of existing homes nationwide fell 3.8 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.75 million units. This was the lowest level in nearly five years, the National Association of Realtors reported this week.

Sales of new homes, meanwhile, tumbled 6.6 percent in June — the largest amount in five months, according to the Commerce Department.

The decline was more than triple what had been expected and was the largest percentage drop since sales fell 12.7 percent in January.

According to the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors, total area sales in June — an unadjusted 3,470 homes sold locally — trailed year-earlier sales by 13.3 percent. Meanwhile, the ratio of sales to unsold inventory in June fell to 6.1 months of supply, near the six-month level the industry considers a balanced market between buyers and sellers.

… “We’re still trying to figure out when the bottom hits and things start going back up,” said Tim Underwood, chief executive of the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City.

Mark Hoffman, president of Hoffman Construction Inc. in Kansas City, Kansas, said: “My gut feeling is that we’re in kind of a trough right now. We’re not stacking up any more inventory, and there still is demand out there. We just need to take a deep breath and crawl out.”

Kansas City Star - Kansas City housing market bucks national trend as sales increase