A new report from the Northwoods Association of Realtors agrees with an earlier report that there are buyers waiting to purchase properties, but the number of listings is not keeping up with demand.
The Wisconsin Realtors Association says a tightening number of available properties has caused prices to rise.
Northwoods Association President Jon Long in Tomahawk says with interest rates low on loans they've seen increased sales in all classifications, such as on-water or off-water or vacant land...
"The biggest challenge we're facing is lack of inventory. We have buyers stacked up and we don't have an adequate number of properties to sell those buyers. That's our biggest complaint versus what we came out of the mid-to-late 2000's when we had an abundance of listings and on one to buy them..."
Long says properties in southern Wisconsin have often been fast sellers, but that trend has reached the Northwoods as well...
"That's what I'm seeing in the near future here in the spring, summer and fall season where we have so many buyers that are qualified and ready to buy and not enough places. As places come on the market I think we're going to see some competing offers and a really different market than we've seen in the past..."
Long says high-speed internet remains an issue as buyers would like to have it for their Northwoods residences, but he says people make do, such as heading to the library or an internet hot spot.
Long says they were down a bit in 2019 in overall sales because of a lack of inventory. He says the average sale price is increasing.
Long says now would be a good time for anyone thinking of listing their home to do so. He says reach out to a local realtor to have a market analysis done.
