Slowing home sales have caught on in Kansas, but housing prices haven't been hit in all of the state's markets severely, despite the worst economy since the Great Depression. The hearty mid-west isn't facing the fall out of the credit crunch as much as other areas of the country.

During the height of the real estate boom there was less subprime and Alternative "A" financing in Kansas, which to at least some degree protects the market from the high number of foreclosures elsewhere. Nevertheless, the real estate crisis is impacting the state. Foreclosures are increasing in Kansas City, where vacant houses are blighted by un-kept lots, broken windows and caved-in roofs.

Home sales are sliding in Kansas City for the second year in a row. The supply of homes on the market would take less than a year to sell off, which is much less than most of the rest of the nation. Sales of homes are projected to remain slow through 2009 as more foreclosures come on the market after more than 3-million additional adjustable rate mortgages reset, setting off a second round of foreclosures, thousands of which will be in Kansas City. Housing Predictor forecasts Kansas City home prices will deflate and average of 13.6% in 2009.

In Topeka homeowners are appealing their property tax assessments in Shawnee County, which were increased for the majority of homeowners as a result of the higher real estate market in 2007. Topeka's homeowners want fairness since falling home prices have reduced the values of their homes. But it hasn't mattered much to the County Assessor.

City	Forecast
Kansas City	− 13.6%
Topeka	− 11.8%
Wichita	− 10.2%
Lawrence	−   5.7%

Home prices are deflating in Topeka as the tsunami of foreclosures coupled with slower home sales affect the market. Topeka was a slow paced housing market before the national boom, and now almost at the same pace prices are dropping, and are forecast to deflate another 11.8% on average in 2009.

Home sales are also declining in Wichita, which has been one of the nation's rare exceptions in the plummeting real estate market. Wichita home prices appreciated marginally in 2008 as a result of the high-end market. The market flew in Wichita when interest rates were at an all-time low, and now the rest of the market is feeling the impact of lower prices.

As more homes are purchased by investors at low prices, who make repairs and resell them as flips sales are projected to be steady but slow through the year in Wichita. Home values are forecast to deflate an average of 10.2% across the board in 2009.

Lawrence, Kansas is trying to adjust to the national recessionary economy, which was jettisoned into the downturn by the real estate crisis. The market is still searching for a bottom, which isn't projected to hit until at least 2010, perhaps even later. Home values are declining at single digit rates as a consequence of not experiencing higher housing inflation during the boom. Falling home values are forecast to hit 5.7% on the average home in Lawrence in 2009.