Single family home sales in the four-county metro Milwaukee area were up 2.9% during the third quarter, year-over-year, despite a 3.1% year-over-year sales decline in September, according to the latest market report from the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors.
For the greater southeastern Wisconsin area, home sales were up 2.1% in the third quarter.
The prices of homes sold during the third quarter rose 6.3% in the metro area and 5.8% in the greater region. Here’s a breakdown by county:
- Racine: $316,712, +12.9%
- Washington: $539,588, +7.28%
- Kenosha: $338,418, +7.1%
- Milwaukee: $293,228, +7.0%
- Waukesha: $536,275, +6.7%
- Ozaukee: $411,362, +4.2%
- Walworth: $545,851, -0.3%
Listings of homes for sale during the third quarter were up 5.4% in the metro area. But GMAR says the supply of homes for sale during September was only enough to satisfy 3.2 months of buyer demand. An inventory of 6 months is considered a balanced market.
The lack of supply is contributing to the rise of home sale prices in the region, GMAR says.
“This is occurring at a time when generational demand is at an all-time high with Millennial and Gen Z first-time buyers and Baby Boomer empty nesters in the market at the same time,” the report says. “Of course, when demand outpaces supply, prices go up. The only way to meet demand and ease price pressure is to increase new construction, which would normally add 3,000 – 4,000 units to the market annually. Unfortunately, new construction of owner-occupied housing has been down by about 50% since 2007. Listings (of homes for sale) have been hard to come by for many years mainly because would-be sellers of existing homes have stayed put, and because the market has not produced enough new units to purchase.”
