August home sales across the state of Wisconsin were up 9 percent over August 2015, making this the strongest August in 11 years and ending the summer on a strong note.
The median price rose to $170,000 in August, which was 5.3 percent higher than August 2015. With annual inflation ranging between 0.8 percent and 1.4 percent through July of this year, housing prices are growing at more than three times the rate of inflation.
“This is our most active selling season, and we sold a lot of homes this summer,” said Erik Sjowall chairman of the Wisconsin Realtors Association board chairman. “That’s a remarkable record given that inventories remained very tight in the state.”
The state had 45,337 homes on the market, down 14 percent compared to August of last year. This translates to just 6.9 months of available supply in August.
“This is a very tight market, and it’s especially tight in our cities,” Sjowall said. “Buyers have more options in rural counties that have 11.6 months of supply, but the urban counties only have 5.1 months of supply on average.”
Nearly every region in the state saw healthy growth in sales over the last 12 months, with the strongest regional growth in the south central region, up 14.6 percent, followed by the west, up 11.6 percent, the southeast, up 9.8 percent, and the north, up 8.7 percent.
More moderate growth was seen in the northeast, which was up 4.4 percent. The central region was actually down slightly by 3.1 percent, but that region is still up 3.5 percent year-to-date.
The median price is up 5.3 percent over the past year, and compared to August 2012, prices have grown 18.8 percent for a compounded annual growth rate of 4.3 percent.
In the southeast region, the median home price was $185,000, up 7.2 percent from a year ago. In Milwaukee County, the median home price was $144,000, up 5.9 percent. Ozaukee County had the highest median price at $281,000, up 14.9 percent. Sheboygan County had the lowest at $139,000, up 8.6 percent.
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