Home sales in the metro Milwaukee area were down 31.3 percent in April, compared to April of 2010, according to Metro MLS Inc. statistics.
Housing starts also dipped in the metro Milwaukee area, down 11 percent to only 70 during the month of April, according to Oshkosh-based MTD Marketing Services of Wisconsin Inc. That’s a substantial drop from the area’s housing construction peak. In April of 2003 there were 308 housing starts in the metro area.
The comparison of April 2011 to April 2010 is skewed by last year’s federal homebuyers tax credit, which gave the housing market an artificial boost last year.
“The (home sales) decrease (in April of 2011) was completely expected, given the huge run-up in sales in the first half of 2010 brought on by the last version of the federal homebuyer tax credits,” said Mike Ruzicka, president of the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors (GMAR). “When the market needed the added stimulus of the tax credits in 2010, today it is strong enough to stand on its own.”
Sales of higher priced homes have increased, Ruzicka said brokers have reported.
“They believe this is due primarily to the discounts the market has provided in the high-end price range,” he said.
The metro Milwaukee area has 12.3 months of housing inventory on the market, down from 12.5 months of inventory in March, Ruzicka said.
