Home sales in southeastern Wisconsin dropped by 20 percent in August, compared to August of 2007, according to the latest MLS data.
Milwaukee County had 807 home sales in the month (compared to 902 in 2007), Waukesha County had 400 (compared to 565 in 2007), Ozaukee 104 (123), Washington 141 (182), Racine 153 (225), Kenosha 165 (196), Walworth 103 (154) and Sheboygan had 101 sales (compared to 130 in 2007).
Home sales in the region were also down from the 2,023 that were sold in July. The number of homes listed for sale in the eight-county area in August declined by 15 percent, from 4,427 to 3,762, compared to August of 2007. Listings have declined as the buyers’ market has discourage home owners from putting their homes up for sale.
"If this supply side correction continues, we should start seeing upward price pressure later this year or in early 2009," said Mike Ruzicka, president of the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors. "We currently have 10.13 months of inventory, with 14,712 active residential listings in the metro area. This is even with the 10.1 months we had when the July stats were released (8/11), and up slightly from the 9.7 months we had when the June analysis was released (7/10), but it is down significantly from the 12- to 14-month levels we had going back to last fall."
