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New Home Sales and Prices Both Gain in Kansas City According to Freshest Data

Posted on: May 06, 2013 07:18:23 AM

The Kansas City, MO market saw an increase in closings of new homes in January year-over-year, and the percentage boost was better than December 2012, suggesting the market may be strengthening. Closings increased 37.3% from a year earlier to 114. This came on the heels of a 6.5% rise year-over-year in December.

A total of 1,873 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in January, up from 1,842 for the year that ended in December.

New home closings represented 4.0% of overall housing closings. A year ago, 3.0% of total closings were new home closings. Closings of new and existing homes increased year-over-year in January after also rising in December year-over-year.

Pricing and Mortgage Trends

In January, the average price of newly sold homes rose year-over-year to $340,149 per unit, a 9.6% rise. This rise is smaller than the 21.0% surge in December year-over-year.

The average mortgage size on new homes moved north year-over-year along with new home prices. In January 2013, the average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 9.4% rise from a year earlier. In December 2012, average mortgage size grew 17.0% from a year earlier. For newly sold homes, the percentage of sale price being financed moved from 83.4% of average price to 83.3% from a year earlier. In December 2012, there was a 2.8 percentage point decline from the year earlier.

Other Market Trends

There has been little change in the composition of the market with regard to the types of properties sold. From a year ago, single-family home closings have moved from 96.4% of new home closings to 96.5% of closings while attached units have gone from 3.6% of closings to 3.5% of closings.

There was a 21.3% surge year-over-year in the average unit size of newly sold homes to 2,364 square feet in January 2013. In December, the average size of new homes sold went from 2,201 square feet a year earlier to 2,141 square feet.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) closings declined in January from a year earlier, but remained a burden on the market. Together, foreclosures plus REO closings accounted for 40.5% of existing home closings, down from 51.7% a year earlier. The percentage of existing home closings involving foreclosures fell to 15.7% in January from 27.0% a year earlier while REO closings as a percentage of existing home closings stayed level at 24.8%.

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