Census figures
Kansas housing in figures
Older homes, prices below the median
Kansas’s median home value, $217,200, is below the national median of $332,700. About 55.9 percent of Kansas’s homes were built before 1980 and 32.3 percent before 1960, against 49.7 and 25.6 percent nationally. Its homeowner vacancy rate, the share of the owner housing stock that is empty and for sale, is 0.9 percent (national: 0.9), and its rental vacancy rate is 6.2 percent (national: 5.5).
More than half of Kansas’s homes were built before 1980, above the national share.
Older houses can hide work behind the walls, in the wiring, plumbing, heating and roof, so build the budget from a contractor’s walk-through and keep a cushion for surprises. If the work reaches the foundation or the structure, or the budget comes close to the purchase price, tell us early: heavy rehab projects are priced and sized differently. What counts as heavy rehab?
With the median home value below the national median, a full renovation budget on a lower-priced house can come close to the purchase price, so price the work before you make an offer.
If you might keep the house as a rental, note that Kansas’s rental vacancy rate is above the national rate; check rents and empty rentals near the property before you count on the rent.
Our state-by-state study puts a year of Kansas’s median rent at about 5.86 dollars for every 100 dollars of its median home value, number 6 of the 41 places we cover (40 states and the District of Columbia), counting from the highest (national: 5.10), a guide to how rents compare with prices if you keep the house. See rent compared with home values, state by state and rental vacancy rates, state by state.
For a flip, what matters is the house you have in mind: what it costs, what the work costs, how long the work and the sale take, and what similar renovated homes nearby have sold for. State figures are a starting point, not a substitute for the comparable sales, the contractor’s bid and the inspection of that property.