The Kansas City housing market continued to improve in April, with sales of new and existing homes up a combined 11 percent from a year ago and the average sales price for existing homes up 9 percent to $149,610./ppThe Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors reported 2,104 existing homes were sold last month in the metropolitan area, up 10 percent from the same month last year, and 168 new homes were sold, up 17 percent./ppInventories of new and existing homes listed for sale continued to shrink as well. There were 13,383 existing homes on the market in April, down 19 percent from a year ago, and 1,128 new homes listed, down 31 percent from April 2011./ppThough sales prices of existing homes were up in April, the average sales price of a new home was $314,079, down 1 percent from a year ago./ppBased on the pace of sales, the Realtors Association estimated a 7.6-month supply of new homes in April, a significant drop from the 9.9-month supply a year ago. The supply of existing homes also dropped to 7.3 months compared with 9.5 months in April 2011. /ppAlso Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes nationwide were up 10 percent from last April, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.62 million. The national median existing-home price jumped 10.1 percent, to $177,400 in April./ppLawrence Yun, the national associations chief economist, said increases in first-time buyers and decreases in buying by investors and speculators also were positive signs. He even noted an acute shortage of inventory in certain markets, pushing up prices in such areas as Washington, D.C.; Miami and Naples, Fla.; North Dakota; Phoenix; Orange County, Calif.; and Seattle./ppThis is the first time weve had back-to-back price increases from a year earlier since June and July of 2010 when the gains were less than 1 percent, Yun said. For the year were looking for a modest overall price gain of 1.0 to 2.0 percent, with stronger improvement in 2013.