Wisconsin Realtors sold six-percent fewer houses in November than in the same month a year ago and the Northwoods followed the trend.
Statewide, the Realtors Association said the median sales price was 136-thousand dollars, about six-thousand more than the year before. Median prices jumped seven-and-a-half percent for the first 11 months of the year, to 144-thousand dollars -- 10-thousand more than the same period of 2012.
In the Northwoods, economist David Clark says sales were up by more than 500 units from one year ago and the price was up 5 percent to $126,000. He says the economy is improving so sales of second homes--common in the Northwoods--reflects an improving economy...
"....those second homes tend to be very responsive to business cycle types of circumstances. So they plummeted during the recession and and they have bounced back as you move into this stage of the recovery...."
Clark thinks interest rates will rise a bit later this year which could cool things, but not much.
