Kansans using tax credit to buy first house

EDS: Updates with quotes, details.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- A national study prepared for Congress shows about 2.2 percent of Kansas households will use the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit to buy their first house.

The National Association of Realtors's rate estimate, based on the state's 1.03 million households, is comparable to surrounding states. The Kansas figure is higher than Missouri at 2 percent and Nebraska at 2.1, but lower than Oklahoma's 2.7 percent and Colorado's 2.5 percent.

The group said the credit prompted about 1,500 additional buyers into the Kansas market through September. NAR estimated there were 22,900 first-time buyers taking advantage of the credit.

"We're very appreciative that we've had that tax credit to work with," said Roger Weast, president of Wichita's J.P. Weigand & Sons. "It certainly would have dimmed our year without it."

Those numbers were figured before the credit was extended by Congress through April 30. Congress also expanded it now to include a $6,500 credit to current homeowners buying a house between Nov. 7 and April 30.

"Without the tax credit, it would have been a really down year," said John McKenzie, president of Wichita's Coldwell Banker Plaza Real Estate. "It's going to be a down year anyway."

NAR estimated 52,800 home sales this year in Kansas. That is down about 5,600 from 2008.

"We certainly saw people who got off the fence to make the deadline," broker Penny Johnson said. "And now that they've extended the credit to people who've lived in their house for five years, there are sellers falling all... over themselves to get into the market."

------

Information from: The Wichita Eagle, http://www.kansas.com