Wichita, Economic Information

Last year over 5,000 jobs were added to the Wichita area economy and MSA. The MSA includes Butler, Harvey, Sedgwick and Summner counties.

The jobless rate fell below 5% for the 1st time in 2006. The unemployment level was 4.4 percent for the Wichita MSA, down from 5.1% in August. Unemployment within Wichita's city limits was at 4.8%. This was down from 6.2% last year and 5.5% a month ago.

The state Jobless rate for September was4.2%. Data was provided by the Kansas Department of Labor.

Real Estate update:

National real estate sales are down but 2006 will still be the 4th best year ever in total sales. Nationally, inventories of un-sold homes have climbed to almost 7 months on average. Sales data for the 3rd quarter of 2006 showed the median price of a new home fell for the 1st time in years and was the largest quarterly drop since 1971. Economist said a major reason for this was the drastic price cutting by many national builders so they could reduce inventory. This policy may have worked because last months new home starts increased 6% over the previous month but were still below last years levels. In addition, Builder confidence increased for the 1st time in almost a year.

How does the Wichita market compare to the national market? Sales through August were up over 4.5% over the same time period last year. In addition, total residential inventory was actually down 1 ½% and the average days-on-market for the Wichita MSA was just 64 days with the average re-sale home bringing 97.4% of list price. Wichita only has a 4.3 month supply of homes for sale compared to almost 7 months on the national market. Price appreciation for 2006 is projected at 5.2% with most of that happening in the 1st half of 2006. 2007 price appreciation is projected at 3.9%. The average price appreciation for 2000 to 2005 was a 3.7% increase per year. New home sales are projected at a 4.2% increase over 2005. Call "SHORTY" for a detailed analysis of your home: 316-554-2831