Kansas homeownership drops for fourth consecutive year

KANSAS (KSNT) – Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED) shows that homeownership in Kansas has been on the decline ever since 2020.

According to the most recently updated home ownership data from the FRED, Kansas homeownership has been declining since 2020. In 2020, the FRED reported that 69.5% of Kansans were homeowners. That has since declined to 67.7%, as of the most recent data from March 2025.

27 News spoke to Wichita State University Center for Economic Development and Business Research Director Bekah Selby-Leach about the decline in homeownership in the Sunflower State.

Selby-Leach said home prices have risen considerably over the last several years. She said that with higher home price values, the mortgage payments are higher than homebuyers had become accustomed to. 

“Wages are not necessarily stagnant (they are increasing at a rate in Kansas higher than inflation), but they were historically low and there is some catch up,” Selby-Leach said. “The bigger challenge is that home values and prices increased more rapidly over the last five years than wages.”

Real estate marketplace Zillow published updated home price data for Kansas in July. According to the data, the average home value in Kansas is currently $242,000. The average home value has increased by over $75,000 over the last five years.

Selby-Leach said realtors have noted that the existing housing stock is aging, that the desirable homes that come on the market get contracted rapidly and less desirable homes take considerably longer to sell. She said there are a lot of cash buyers in the market, suggesting a lot of properties are being sold as investment properties or to retirement-age individuals who are adding to their assets

Earlier this year, 27 News looked into Topeka home prices. Over the past 10 years alone, housing prices have increased by almost 50% in Topeka.

As of January 2024, the average price of a home in Topeka was $183,992. Two decades ago, a house in the Capital City would’ve cost $94.095. Zillow started tracking house prices in Topeka in 2000; back then, the average price of a home was $80,580.

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