Home sales in the four-county metro Milwaukee area were up 11.2% year-over-year to 975, according to the latest report from the
Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors.
Home sales were up 8.9% year-over-year in February in the greater seven county southeastern Wisconsin region, according to the report.
Here’s a breakdown of February home sales by county, and change from a year ago:
- Washington: 83, +31.7%
- Walworth: 79, +31.7%
- Milwaukee: 619, +15.9%
- Waukesha: 225, +0.9%
- Racine: 143, +0.7%
- Kenosha: 81, -14.7%
- Ozaukee: 48, -15.8%
The average home sale price in the metro Milwaukee area was $348,659 in February, up 7.9% compared to a year ago, according to the GMAR report.
Listings of homes for sale in the four-county metro Milwaukee area in February were up 14.8% year-over-year. Listings in the area have risen, year-over-year, for seven months in a row. However, the market remains tight in favor of sellers. The inventory level (the amount of time it would take to sell all of the homes on the market at a given time) of homes for sale in the metro Milwaukee area in February was 2.2 months. Six months is considered a balanced market.
The number of building permits pulled for new home construction in the four-county metro Milwaukee area was up 48% year-over-year to 145, according to the report. But GMAR continues to say that new home construction in the area is too low to meet demand.
“However, to throw cold water on the numbers once again, new starts are nowhere near the number needed to reach 4,000+ new construction units this year,” the report states. “New construction is in an era of low production beginning way back when the Great Recession started. It does not appear that the market will achieve any kind of balance to benefit buyers in the near future. To reach a balanced market (commonly understood to be 6 months of inventory) the four-county area needed 5,110 additional units in February. 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. That bottleneck combined with the demographic surge of Millennial and GenZ buyers and reasonable interest rates have all contributed to a historically tight market.”
