Usually during the winter months, housing sales tend to fall off as buyers become less interested in looking. But the Wisconsin Realtors Association reports a brisk business in January, resulting in higher prices.
The Association reports sales jumped 10 percent from January, 2015 and statewide median prices surged 10 percent to an average of $148,000. Spokesperson David Clark says January reflects a strong trend begun last year. He says so many people are in the market, the number of homes to sell has rapidly shrunk...
"....the demand increase has outstripped the number of new homes coming on the market. Our inventory levels have gotten quite low. We fell below 40,000 homes for sale in January. That's really the first time that has happened since we started tracking this data back in 2009...."
Clark reports in the 18-county northern region, the median price rose 24 percent last month over one year ago to $130,000 over a relatively low number of homes sold...
".....they were up 6.7 percent. Some of that you have to take with a grain of salt because you're looking at an area that sells a small fraction of their overall homes in January...."
Clark reports overall, the economy is stable and unemployment is dropping, contributing to higher demand. He says a mild winter also helped. Interest rates remain low and Clark says that is also a factor.
