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December 2011 Housing Statistics

Buyer activity appears to be gaining metro area wide.  The Heartland MLS statistics for December 2011 show combined home sales of 1,833, which represents a 7 percent increase over December 2010 and an 8 percent increase from the previous month.

Unfortunately, data also indicates that their average sales prices have declined from a year ago.  My personal experiences is that values in many areas have stabilized and some have experienced property appreciation. 

The following is a copy of the complete report:

Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors & Heartland MLS

Inventory: The new home inventory for the region is 19% lower than it was a year ago at this time when there were 1,525 new homes on the market. New home inventory for this month was 1,240, representing a 2% decline from last
month’s new home inventory of 1,264. The existing inventory this month is 16% lower than it was a year ago when the existing inventory was 13,713. Existing home inventory this month of 11,571 shows a 7% decrease compared to
12,505 one month ago. One year ago the inventory for new & existing homes was 15,238, which represents a 16% decrease in total inventory over the past year. The new & existing inventory this month of 12,811, compared to 13,769
last month represents a 7% decrease in inventory in the past month.

Home Sales: New home sales this month of 147 were 17% higher from one year ago when there were 126 new home sales in December. New home sales increased this month by 8% from one month ago when there were 136 new home sales. There were 1,686 existing homes sold in December, representing an increase of 6% from one year ago when there were 1,588 sales. Existing home sales were also up 8% from last month’s sales of 1,566. This month’s combined total sales were 7% higher than one year ago when there were 1,714 sales. Combined home sales of existing and new homes were 1,833 for December, which is also up 8% from the total of 1,702 sales from a month ago.

Kansas City Region Supply of Homes on the Market: The Supply calculation is determined by taking the “Inventory” and dividing it by the “12 month average of the number of Sales.” Generally speaking, a 5-6 month supply of homes on the market equates to a “balanced” market. When the supply exceeds 6 months, the market begins to favor buyers, and when the supply is less than 5 months the market tends to favor sellers. Supply for combined new and existing homes was 6.7 months of supply in December. This is lower than the 8 months of supply in December 2010. The existing home supply was 6.6 months for December which is also lower than the 7.8 months supply of existing homes last year in December. The new homes supply in December 2011 was 8.8 months, which is also lower than one year ago when the new home supply was 9.6 months. Combined and existing home markets are inching closer to a balanced market and new homes still favor buyers.