Wisconsin home sales and prices fall in September

Home sales in Wisconsin were down 30.9 percent in September and median home sale prices for the month were down 1.8 percent, compared to September of 2009, according to the latest report from the Wisconsin Realtors Association (WRA).
Median home prices for the state dipped to $141,000 in September.
In southeastern Wisconsin, median home sale prices were down 3.9 percent in September to $158,000. Sales in the region were down 26.4 percent during the month, according to the WRA data.
In Milwaukee County the median home sale price fell 17.8 percent to $139,950 during the month, and in Waukesha County the median home sale price dipped 1.8 percent to $225,000.
However, median home sale prices in Ozaukee County increased 32.4 percent to $188,600 and in Sheboygan County median home sale prices were up 15.3 percent to $115,250.
The state’s housing market has slumped since the end of the federal home buyers tax credit earlier this year.
“The federal tax credit was a great incentive and drove many buyers to purchase in the spring, which resulted in lower home sales volume during the months of July through September,” said John Horning, chairman of the WRA board of directors. “Any time you have a temporary program like this, it will always borrow sales from the future.”
The state needs healthy job growth to create a robust recovery in the housing market, said WRA president Bill Malkasian.
“Despite the fact that we added 23,000 jobs in Wisconsin since January 2010, we need to see unemployment improve before consumers are confident enough to get back into the housing market in large numbers,” he said.