Single family home sales in the four-county metro Milwaukee area were up 3.6% year-over-year in October, with a total of 1,545 homes sold, according to the
Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors. The increase in homes sold in the metro area was mostly driven by a 7.9% increase in Milwaukee County.
That was the first year-over-year home sale increase for the metro Milwaukee area in 18 months.
“That would normally be a point to celebrate, but sales were up this October because sales a year ago dropped by double-digits due to rising interest rates,” GMAR said in its monthly sales report.
However, home sales for the entire seven-county southeastern Wisconsin region were down 4.2% for October, year-over-year, to 1,991. Racine County, Kenosha County and Walworth County all had significant declines in home sales.
Here’s the October home sale breakdown by county, including year-over-year change:
- Ozaukee: 101, +11.0%
- Milwaukee: 920, +7.9%
- Waukesha: 399, 0%
- Kenosha: -12.8%
- Washington: 125, -16.1%
- Walworth: 116, -26.6%
- Racine: 180, -29.7%
Listings of homes on the market were up 2.9% in the four-county metro area in October, year-over-year, but down 0.8% in the greater southeastern Wisconsin region. Many homeowners have been reluctant to list their homes for sale as interest rates have risen and they have preferred to stick with the mortgage on their existing home and its lower interest rate.
Listings of homes for sale rose 6.6% in Milwaukee County and 14.7% in Washington County during October.
“The truly good news is that it appears listings are on their way up after three months of increases over the same period a year ago,” the GMAR report said. “However, again, our optimism is muted due to the severe decline in listings during the second half of 2022. Nonetheless, a three-month run is a good trend. Those new listings are desperately needed.”
There are still not enough listings of homes for sale in the Milwaukee area to meet demand, according to GMAR. The local housing market is “a very tight market in favor of sellers, and rising prices,” the report said.
Overall, home sales are being held back because of low inventory, which is a result of a lack of listings and new construction, according to GMAR. For 2023, through September, there were 1,217 new home construction permits pulled in the four-county area, according to GMAR, compared to 1,528 a year ago.
The metro Milwaukee market needs an additional 4,000 new homes to be built per year to meet demand, according to GMAR.
“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 states. “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.”
