Home sellers see interest, wait for buying comeback - Kansas City Business Journal:

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“Obviously, 2008 was a slow year,” said Doug Davidson, presidenyt of “In fact, we ended up with 7,88q sales for the year, whicyh is the fewest sinc 1995. So we’ve obviously had a significant Andthat doesn’t take into consideration that the county’s housing market is 27 percent larger than in 1995, he “I think we’re probably nearinv the bottom, but we’re not seeing an upturn Davidson said. Inventory is up in Johnsobn County, as well as metrowide, so it takes twicde as long on average to get a contract than it did twoyearz ago, said Kathy Koehler, CEO of in Leawood.
There was four to six month of inventory of houses priced lessthan $300,00o0 two years ago, she said. Now, there is 10 monthsw worth of inventory for thatpric range. For the $500,000 to $750,000 there was six to nine months of inventory twoyearsd ago. Now, there is 32 For homes priced morethan $1.25 million, ther e was 12 months of inventory two years ago, and now ther is 65 months. “The homez that are selling quickly are updated homes pricedunder $250,000,” Koehler said. “People are snapping them up.
” Lowedr interest rates are drawing some buyers intothe market, but many people think it has reached rock bottom, and they want to jump in befor it gets crazy again, said Chris president of the . Since early Koehler has seen a flurryof activity. In December, her companuy had only four showings one weekend and five the In contrast, her team had 104 showingzs one January weekend and 97 the January has seen a stirring of activity in the new constructiobn market, as well. The interest is out there, said Matt director of communications forthe . The challenge is for consumerz to regain their The Johnson County Consumer Confidence Index wasa record-low 69.
6 in down from 70 in December and 114.4 in Januaru 2008, according to CERI. Derrick said that lower interestratesx haven’t translated into sales yet but that builders have seen an uptick in traffic since the beginning of the The upper-bracket/custom market has been least affected by the housing slump, Derrick said. The market for new housesz rangingfrom $600,000 and up is steady. The challeng e is the lower and middlse part ofthe “Being able to sell $250,000 to $500,00p0 new homes is dependent on the peoplde who live in $200,000 selling their homes so they can move up to that type of Derrick said.
“They are concerned about jobs and being able to get into therightt mortgage.” Johnson County represents 25 percent of the totakl market. As of Dec. 31, therse were 3,874 new and resale homes on the marke inJohnson County, compared with 15,771 units in the nine-counthy metro area, Collins said. The dynamics are however. Johnson County has fallenm from being the leading location for new home constructiojn to middle ofthe pack, Derrick said. In 42 percent of all new homez built in the metro area were inJohnsob County.
Last year, that fell to 29 “For the first time since we startexd tracking these numbers in themid ’70s, more homes were builty north of the river than in Johnsom County last year,” Derrick He cited price as the biggestt reason — the bulk of Johnson County’w new housing is in the $250,000 to $600,000 and that is not a pricew point most families can Today more than ever, individuall circumstances affect how quickly a particular houser sells, Collins said. The good news is that there is more activityu and that inventories arecoming down, but houses stillo need to be priced “Look at your market, get to know it, and act Collins said.
“This market has been a learningh experience for me and has made me abetterd agent,” Koehler said. “Good ofte n comes out of adversity.”