HeritageFALL is upon us! We can all look forward to more moderate temperatures, a quieter schedule with the kids back in school and lots and lots of fun local outdoor activities. Aunie has put together quite a calendar of FREE events for the month. Be sure to click through to get the details on all of the happenings around Kansas City. Don't miss the iconic outdoor event of the season, the Plaza Art Fair September 22-24. This long running event showcases the best artists from around the region and the country. Plenty of great art, good food and free live music.
The housing market has cooled a bit from the busy summer. Remember, the stats that you see in this newsletter are for JULY which are the most current stats available. When we receive August stats in September I am sure that we will see a slide in closed and pending sales and a softening of the Sale to Ask price ratio. Record high mortgage rates (Now solidly in the mid-7% range) will likely be with us for some time. This is all by design and, frankly, it is a healthy reprieve from the spiking home prices that we have witnessed since 2020. Home price gains have averaged 40% in the metro area since 2020 which means a 13.3% annual gain. Our historical average gain here is much closer to 5%.
Many of you know that my background is in economics and that I am fascinated with markets of all types. Much like the equities market, the housing market benefits from consolidation. We are entering a phase of more moderate price gains and fewer sales of homes. This allows market participants (buyers) to make more rational home purchase decisions. Buyers now have leverage in the negotiation process and can successfully require sellers to make repairs, sell at a lower price than asking, and provide a mechanical warranty on resale homes. Finally, the market is swinging into balance.
If you enjoy learning about the economic factors that influence our market, call me. I have access to real time market data and enjoy discussing our ever changing local marketplace.