Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

2012 was a much improved year for the Kansas City real estate market. Even through the slower fall months, supply, demand and housing prices remained steady and the housing market continued its rebound. The months of inventory on the market in most local areas was at the lowest points seen in years. All together, home prices in most price ranges had stabilized and that’s been music to many weary home seller’s ears. But all of that was threatened by the Fiscal Cliff and if a deal hadn’t been struck by Congress the housing market could have quickly fallen into turmoil.

A critical factor in the Fiscal Cliff deal is the extension of the tax relief offered to Short Sale home sellers. For at least the next year, sellers who achieve a successful Short Sale with their lender will continue to NOT have to treat the forgiven debt as taxable income. This is huge because without it a lot of sellers would have lost motivation to try to work out a short sale… And that would have meant a whole lot more foreclosures on the market and ultimately lower sales prices in most areas.

Just as importantly, the mortgage interest deduction for homeowners will continue untouched. The mortgage interest deduction is one of the most important factors in owning a home versus renting, so this part of the legislation was extremely critical. All together, the Fiscal Cliff deal will help prevent an influx of new listings on the market and thus allow the real estate market to (hopefully) continue on the path of recovery.

Posted by Jason Brown