For potential homebuyers — not just in Jackson County or in northeastern Kansas, but anywhere in the nation — the inventory of available residences for sale is low while the price tags attached to those residences are high. But while many real estate markets have seen the prices rising and the inventory sinking during the COVID-19 pandemic, some realtors — including Roger Hower of Kellerman Real Estate — believe the current housing shortage issue began well before the coronavirus was on anybody’s mind and has more facets to it than just those related to the pandemic. Some steps have been taken to alleviate this shortage locally, such as the Banner Oaks subdivision currently being developed at Holton’s southern edge. But Hower said it will take more than just the construction of a few new homes to build up an inventory of houses that he and other local realtors can sell. That’s a problem, he said, especially now that Topeka and the surrounding area has been declared “the third-hottest market in the United States.”
Source: Holton Recorder
