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Seven-figure homes sell at record pace in Wichita

November 30, 2007

By Bill Wilson
The Wichita Eagle

Million-dollar homes are being bought and sold at a record pace this year around Wichita, according to industry experts. Those "high-high end" homes are a niche in the local housing market that is largely unnoticed, hidden by buyer-induced privacy.

According to figures from the South Central Kansas Multiple Listing Service, seven of the seven-figure homes have changed hands this year -- four existing and three new homes.

The real number is at least four times that, experts think.

"I would be highly skeptical of those numbers," said Stan Longhofer, director of Wichita State University's Center for Real Estate.

"If you do a custom home, directly with a builder, that home's never going to land on the market and may not end up being captured by the MLS."

Longhofer's right, say analysts, Realtors and builders.

The real number is a moving target thanks to privacy contracts that keep the big-ticket sales off the MLS. Conservative estimates put the 2007 seven-digit sales number in the 30s.

"Oh, at least," said Cathy Schmitt, director of sales for Flint Hills National Residences in Andover, one of the spots where seven-figure homes are popular.

"It's a great example of the housing market -- no national market, just niches in regional markets."

The majority of the seven-figure deals are done quietly, said John McKenzie, president of Wichita's Plaza Real Estate.

"There's definitely an element of privacy involved," he said.

"And when people have the income and the desire for that kind of privacy, why shouldn't they have it?" Schmitt asked.

The demand for big-ticket homes has been steady, said Steve Robl, president of Wichita's Robl Construction.

"For us, it's pretty consistent -- two or three of those high-end homes a year," he said. "The market's slowing, but not in that sector."

Why the spike this year? Longhofer isn't sure, but it could be the cumulative impact of a growing economy.

"We've got corporate high-end jobs with new people," he said.

"We've got people moving up within the market with assets and wealth they're willing to put in homes."

And we've got people cashing out of the oil, gas and stock markets, McKenzie said.

There's also a lot of value in the Wichita high-end housing market, said Jack Ritchie, chief executive of Ritchie Development.

"When people transfer in town, they're selling homes in other markets for those kinds of prices," he said.

"They get here, and they can reinvest that money and get significantly more house. They're bringing a lot of equity to the market."

Interest rates are good, and these kinds of housing deals are prospering across the country, Longhofer said.

"The sectors really hurting nationwide are more of a stretch for the buyers in terms of a mortgage, ones requiring jumbo mortgages with people without this depth of assets," he said.

So it comes down to money: Wichitans have it, and record numbers are spending it on luxury homes, McKenzie said.

"It's amazing to me how much money there truly is in Wichita," he said.

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

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