‘Sellers’ market’: Just how hot will housing prices be in Kansas City area next year?
Home buyers in the Kansas City area may find house hunting a bit challenging next year as home prices are expected to continue to rise, according to a housing market forecast published by Wichita State University.
Kansas City home prices are expected to rise by 9.2% next year, according to the 2022 Kansas Housing Markets Forecast series published by Wichita State University Center for Real Estate. The series is subtitled “Out of this World.”
“The supply of homes available for sale remains near historic lows,” Stan Longhofer, director of the WSU Center for Real Estate, said in a release. “Although bidding wars may not be as intense as they were earlier this year, it will continue to be a sellers’ market across most market segments.”
Longhofer, who presented the forecast last week at a Kansas Association of Realtors conference in Wichita, found that total home sales in the Kansas City area have continued to rise despite the tight inventories, which have limited growth of this year’s sales to 2.9%.
The pace of sales, however, are expected to pick up in 2022 increasing by nearly 6% to 46,990 homes.
Meanwhile, new home construction in the Kansas City metropolitan area “began to blast off last year,” spurred by strong demand and rapidly rising existing home prices.
Permitting activity for new single-family homes is expected to rise another 16.9% next year to 9,905 units, the highest since 2005, according to the forecast.
Kansas City home prices, which have been rising at their fastest pace since at least the late 1970s, are expected to continue surge. Housing prices rose 12.2% in 2021.
“Desirable homes are selling at light speed, and prospective buyer are competing on contract terms as well as prices,” according to the forecast.
The housing markets forecast series reviews current housing market conditions in the major markets across Kansas including Kansas City, Lawrence, Manhattan, Topeka and Wichita and forecasts housing market activity through the end of 2022.
This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 9:20 AM.
