A strong economy and relatively low mortgage rates were not enough to offset the inventory squeeze in Wisconsin housing and as a result, home sales slipped and prices rose statewide, according to an analysis of the existing home market by the Wisconsin Realtors Association.
A realtors spokesperson says a strong economy and low mortgage rates have fueled demand.
David Clark is an economist for state realtors. He says June is the month with the highest volume of sales.
"...May,June, July and August accounr for about 43 percent of our sales. Our sales were down about 11.8 percent compared to sales dating back to June of 2017. Our median prices are up about 5.4 percent..."
Tight inventories of listings, money to purchase homes is still affordable and more buyers looking for homes are influencing the market. Sales actually fall when not enough homes are available.
Clark says certain price ranges were hotter than others. If you were selling a home under $350,000, those homes had about a four month supply. Higher priced homes are taking longer to sell...
'.....on the other hand if you look on the high end, those $350,000 to $500,000 dollar homes there was 7.1 months of available supply...."
In the Northwoods, year to date median prices rose almost 7 percent to an average of 149.000, but sales are off about 3 percent for the year.
