Wisconsin home sales fell last month compared to April of 2016.
The latest analysis from the Wisconsin Realtors Association found the number of completed sales in April was down nearly 11 percent compared to the same time last year. Economist David Clark says sales are likely down because the number of houses on the market continues to fall…
“…the median prices are up pretty substantially. They’re up about 6.9 percent, so both of those numbers are consistent with a situation where you have a very tight housing market where inventory is very low, so you have a lot of buyers kind of chasing after fewer homes that are available and that’s hurting our sales numbers, the lack of inventory, but it’s also driving prices up."
According to the WRA report, median home prices rose to $171,000 in April. Clark expects more owners will put houses on the market over the spring and summer, but says there hasn’t been any indication of that so far even though the housing market remained strong for sellers.
“…May, June, July and August are the big four months for the year, so it will be interesting to see what happens there. We sell about 43 percent of our homes on an annual basis in that four month period between May and August.”
In the 18 northern count region including the Northwoods, prices were up seven percent at $137,000 with sales up 5.3 percent at about 1,700.
