Wichita home sales should rise by nearly 7 percent next year according to the 2015 Wichita Housing Market Forecast published by the Wichita State University Center for Real Estate.

"Wichita is poised to have a fourth straight year of home sales growth," said Stan Longhofer, director of the WSU Center for Real Estate. "We expect home sales in the Wichita area to rise by nearly 7 percent next year, to 9,810 units."

Longhofer will present the forecast at the Kansas Association of Realtors Annual Conference and Education Expo at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Wichita, Kan. at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30. He will be available for interviews at about 11:30 a.m. after his presentation.

The Wichita Housing Forecast is part of the 2015 Kansas Housing Markets Forecast series that reviews current housing market conditions in the major markets across the state – including Kansas City, Lawrence, Manhattan, Topeka and Wichita – and forecasts housing market activity through the end of 2015. Copies of all of the forecasts in the series can be found on the WSU Center for Real Estate website at www.wichita.edu/realestate.

Highlights of the 2015 Wichita Housing Forecast include the following.

Wichita forecast

• Home sales –Wichita home sales are on pace to end the year above their 2013 levels. Sales growth should accelerate next year, rising 6.9 percent to 9,810 units.
• Construction – The expiration of Wichita’s new home property tax rebate program caused new home construction to drop off this year. Permitting activity should pick back up again in 2015, rising 5.3 percent to 990 units.
• Home prices – Tightening inventories of homes available sale in Wichita have not yet begun to affect home price appreciation. Wichita home values are expected to rise only modestly in 2015, ending the year up 1.3 percent.

Statewide forecast

• Home sales – After double digit gains in 2012 and 2013, home sales activity across the state has slowed this year. Sales will begin rising again in 2015, up 2.6 percent to 35,650 units.
• Construction – Kansas new home construction has dropped off this year because of the end of a tax rebate program in Wichita and the slowing of the large Kansas City market. Permits should end the year down 3.2 percent, and then fall another 0.9 percent in 2015 to 4,275 units.
• Home prices – Dwindling inventories of homes available for sale across the state are beginning to put upward pressure on home prices, with average home price appreciation across the state set to rise by 2.4 percent this year. This trend should continue next year, with prices set to rise 2.2 percent in 2015.

For more information and a copy of each of the publications in the 2015 Kansas Housing Markets Forecast series, visit the Center for Real Estate website at www.wichita.edu/realestate, or contact Longhofer at 316-978-7163 or stan.longhofer@wichita.edu.