In the Wichita, KS market in October, new home closings sank year-over-year, sliding downhill after showling little movement in September from the year earlier. New home closings saw a fall of 34.9% from a year earlier to 28. Closings were level in September from the year earlier.

A total of 437 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in October, down from 452 for the year that ended in September.

Moving south from a year earlier, new home closings in October 2012 made up 3.0% of overall housing closings, while the year-ago figure was 5.4%. After dropping in September from a year earlier, closings of new and existing homes gained year-over-year in October.

In October, the average price of newly sold homes increased 2.1% year-over-year to $239,852 per unit. This rise is smaller than the 25.0% rise in September year-over-year.

There was a rise year-over-year in the average mortgage size on new homes along with new home prices. In October 2012, the average mortgage size was $204,843, a 2.6% rise from a year earlier. Average mortgage size climbed 27.6% in September 2012 from a year earlier. The overall percentage of sale price that was being financed went from 85.1% of average price to 85.4% from a year earlier. In September 2012, there was a 1.8 percentage point rise from the year earlier.

There was no change in the composition of the new-home market with regard to the types of properties sold in October 2012. Single-family home closings have made up all of new home closings while attached unit closings have represented no part of closings.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) closings stayed a drag on the market. Out of all existing home closings, foreclosures combined with REO closings made up 27.5% of closings. In October 2011, they represented 30.5%. The percentage of existing home closings involving foreclosures dipped to 13.8% in October from 15.9% a year earlier and REO closings moved from 14.6% of existing home closings in October 2011 to 13.6% in October 2012.

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