Metro Milwaukee home sales continue to beat the post homebuyer tax credit pace from the second half of 2010.
Home sales in the Milwaukee area were up 28.2 percent in September, compared to September of 2010, according to the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors (GMAR).
“Reasons for the increase in sales are twofold,” said GMAR president Mike Ruzicka. “The pace of sales fell severely once the federal tax credits expired in 2010, and buyers were taking advantage of big discounts in the market, with prices down about 30 percent from the peak.”
The four-county metro Milwaukee market had a 10.5 month inventory of homes on the market in September, according to the GMAR.
“With all of the incentives to purchase (low prices, low interest rates, wide selection, etc.) the market should be operating more efficiently,” Ruzicka said. “However, consumer sentiment and confusion over what the country’s and region’s economic future holds, as well as difficulties in financing, seems to have kept more buyers from being active in the market. The result is a growing build-up of demand that will have to express itself at some point in the future as new households are created.”
