During the first half of the year, Dane County had the most new single-family homes under construction in Wisconsin with 707 single-family housing permits pulled, a 4% increase from the first half of 2022, according to the latest report from the
Wisconsin Builders Association.
Waukesha County had the second most single-family home permits pulled in the state during the first half of the year at 334, but that was down 26.8% from the first half of 2022.
Statewide, single-family home construction permits were down 6.9% during the first half of the year.
Nationally, home construction has slowed even more. The National Association of Home Builders recently released data showing that single-family permits are down nationally nearly 21% from this time last year, with a decline in the Midwest region of 19%.
Despite the building permit decline this year, MBA leaders say the industry is operating at or near capacity in Wisconsin.
“Members across the state are still busy with high demand, likely caused by low existing home inventory,” said WBA president Mike Howe.
“We’re pleased that homebuilding is still strong across Wisconsin given the increased material costs, continued labor shortage, and high interest rates,” said WBA executive director Brad Boycks.
The Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors has been saying repeatedly, of some time, that there are not enough new homes under construction in southeastern Wisconsin to meet the demand for housing. Home sales were down 19.2% in southeastern Wisconsin in July compared to the same time in 2022, according to the GMAR’s latest report.
“Sales are not down due to a lack of buyer interest,” the GMAR’s report states. “On the contrary buyer demand is strong. The problem with the market is that there is simply not enough supply to satisfy buyer demand. With little to no new construction of single-family houses or condominiums, and an overabundance of apartment construction, current homeowners cannot move because there simply is nowhere to move to.”
“The systemic problem with the market is the lack of new construction of single-family houses and condominiums, and over reliance on apartments to satisfy demand,” the GMAR report says. “That bottleneck combined with the demographic surge of Millennial and GenZ buyers and reasonable interest rates have all contributed to a historically tight market. The imminent danger for the region if it does not create additional supply in the form of more single-family and condominium units, is that thousands of would-be homeowners will be forced to continue to rent, foregoing the opportunity to build wealth through a home’s equity and all of the other benefits of homeownership. Rather they have been, and will continue to, pay thousands of dollars a year in rent with no ability to save for a down payment – pushing off their opportunity to achieve the American Dream even further.”
Here is the list of the top 34 counties in the state for single-family home permits during the first half of the year, including county name, number of permits pulled, and change from the first half of 2022 (southeastern Wisconsin counties are in bold):
- Dane: 707, +4.0%
- Waukesha: 334, -26.8%
- Brown: 266, +3.9%
- St. Croix: 182, -25.4%
- Outagamie: 176, -12.9%
- Walworth, 153, -12.1%
- Marathon: 149, +4.9%
- Door: 140, +57.3%
- Milwaukee: 132, +43.5%
- Rock: 115, -28.1%
- Racine: 113, +24.2%
- Vilas: 112, -8.9%
- La Crosse: 110, +7.8%
- Oconto: 110, -9.1%
- Polk: 109, -6.8%
- Winnebago: 102, -35.0%
- Eau Claire: 101, -16.5%
- Ozaukee: 101, -42.0%
- Washington: 100, -5.7%
- Calumet: 99, +41.4%
- Portage: 96, 9.1%
- Chippewa: 94, -26.0%
- Grant: 89, +111.9%
- Oneida: 89, +8.5%
- Sauk: 89, -4.3%
- Dodge: 88, -8.3%
- Juneau: 78, -20.4%
- Wood: 76, +10.1%
- Kenosha: 69, -53.4%
- Dunn: 67, -11.8%
- Fond du Lac: 66, -26.7%
- Columbia: 65, +22.6%
- Sheboygan: 64, 0.0%
- Jefferson: 57, -30.5%
