1^st Quarter, 2009

Real Estate & Economic report for the

Wichita, KS metro area

Another Round of lay offs in the aviation industry was announced this week in Wichita, KS.  In addition, there will be two to three companies doing furloughs for two to three weeks this summer.  Total lay offs in the Aviation industry announced or all ready done exceed 10,000 workers.  This will be a total employment impact of 20,000 plus workers before the end of the year.

Before last fall, Wichita had seemed to be immune from the financial hardships of other areas of the country.  But after 16 months of a recession, the negative job impact was bound to hit the local area.

Nationally, an upturn in the economy is projected in the 3^rd to 4^th quarter of 2009.  Wichita will not see a local upturn until the following year. It's just a reality that corporations do not go out and buy a $20,000,000 jet because they had one good quarter.

In contrast to what has happened in 2009, U-Haul has issued a report on metro areas that had more than 5,000 moves in or out.  Wichita ranked #1 for % of inbound moves over outbound moves in 2008.

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Wichita, MLS data for the 1^st two months of 2009

Wichita closed sales for the 1^st two months of 2009 were down 32% from last year. Last years sales for the entire year were down 16% from 2007 sales data.

Total listings on the market compared to last year is only up 2% and total new listings added to the market is actually down 3% but the dramatic decrease in sales has pushed up the months of inventory in most price ranges.

The average sales price for the 1^st two months has dropped from last year but it's in line with the previous two years.  Average days on the market of sold properties was 71 days (does not take in to account previous listings of the same property) and average list to sale price was 95.85%.  These numbers are basically the same as last year.  A significant piece of data is the 779 sold existing homes in the 1^st two months compared to the 1,965 new listings, 2.5 times as much.  This may be a fore warning of things to come over the next few months.

The absorption rate on inventory has increased since last fall's report.

There is 6 months of inventory below $120,000

8.25 months of inventory from $120,000 to $160,000

11.9 months of inventory from $160,000 to $200,000

20.25 months of inventory from $200,000 to $300,000

17.35 Months of inventory from $300,000 to $400,000

These inventory levels are based on sales for February, 2009 and total listings available.