KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Home sales are down and prices are up according to market statistics from Missouri Realtors.
“We have seen a decline in the number of new starts across the Metro to the tune of about 40 percent year over year," explained Will Ruder. "We’re starting to see fewer homes this year than we were at this time last year.”
Ruder is executive vice president of Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City. Despite the current conditions of the market, he expressed optimism for the future.
“With the interest rate environment seemingly hit its apex given what we’ve seen from the federal reserve recently, perhaps we’ll start to see some affordability relief on the part of some mortgage credit in the near term,” Ruder said.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve paused increasing interest rates.
“I think we hit the right time, I think we did," said Diane Chlebicki.
Chlebicki and her husband purchased their home nearly two years ago in a competitive housing market , but are happy they purchased when they did.
“It was hard looking for a new existing home because every time we went to look at a home, people were …. there were tons of people there," Chlebicki added.
Chlebicki lives in the Bristol Highlands community where there's plenty of home construction underway.
Ruder said home builders are balancing an oversupply and undersupply of the market. He explained the desire the build new homes exist, however the bigger question is the affordability.
“It is going to be a difficult road for many would-be home buyers to try to afford what the market can currently produce," Ruder said.
