By Bill Wilson, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.

July 20--Existing home sales in the Wichita area fell almost 10 percent in June from the previous year, but overall sales were down only 10 units as new home business perked up.

The June figures released Monday by the Wichita Area Association of Realtors and the South Central Kansas Multiple Listing Service weren't as bad as many local brokers feared.

A total of 896 homes were sold in the Wichita area in June, driven by 127 new home sales. That is up 47 from May and the first triple-digit new homes sales figure since August.

"This is likely due to homes that were under construction and under contract being completed and closed on prior to the previous closing deadline for the tax credit of June 30," said Tessa Hultz, CEO of the Realtors group.

Meanwhile, existing home sales fell from 852 in May to 769 in June, still consistent with the 786 existing homes sold in June 2009.

Many brokers feared that the passage of the April 30 contract deadline for homebuyer tax credits would markedly soften business for the remainder of 2010.

"The new business written in the month of May was predictably way down," said Gary Walker, residential general manager for J.P. Weigand & Sons.

"But the new business written in June has started to come back again. Our closings are decent, not great, but I would say that from Weigand's standpoint I remain more optimistic than I was at the end of last year."

Existing and new home inventories are up in Wichita, a sign that sellers and builders haven't lost confidence in the market, brokers said.

And the new home median price decreased in June to $160,920 from $172,456 in May, a sign that lower-end homes remain in demand.

"We have seen an uptick in traffic over the past few weeks," said John McKenzie, president of Wichita's Coldwell Banker Plaza Real Estate.

"June was down over last year's number for June, but the year to date is up by more than 15 percent. Seasonally, summers have been slower than the first part of the year, and I suspect that it will start to show increases after Labor Day."

With Congress' move this summer to extend the tax credit closing deadline to Sept. 30, Hultz said she thinks more of the tax credit deals will filter into the Wichita statistics.

"I think we will continue to see closings on those homes for the next couple of months, especially in the new homes area," she said.

Reach Bill Wilson at 316-268-6290 or bwilson@wichitaeagle.com.

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