Wisconsin Department of Revenue Chief Economist John Koskinen says northern Wisconsin property values took a steep hit during the recession, but recent data appears to show a turnaround.
Koskinen was one of the speakers during the Northern Wisconsin Economic Development Summit in Minocqua last week.
He says a recent trend showed housing starts beginning to return, and a small rebound in property values..
"....property values in northern Wisconsin because of the (Great Recession) took a crash, second home values really took a hit, but now we're starting to see property values in northern Wisconsin starting to return..."
Looking at the state north of Highway 29, Koskinen says northern Wisconsin has shown good strength in areas of manufacturing, says population is continuing to grow, forest products finds Wisconsin in a lead position and agriculture is also strong. He says while Wisconsin tourism trails the rest of the nation's average, it continues to grow in northern Wisconsin.
Koskinen showed graphs detailing a growing national housing construction market and growth in the forest products industry...
"....we can probably overlay the mapping of housing starts and the forest products industry and they will map almost directly, but we've come back from only 500,000 units to one million units to were expected to go to 1.5 million units in housing between now and 2017...."
Koskinen says property values depressed by the Great Recession are also starting to show a turnaround. He says values on second homes....common in the Northwoods...took a tumble but also are showing signs of a recovery.
