Home sales are continuing to rebound in Wisconsin as reported by Wisconsin Realtors Association.
Realtor's economist David Clark says this October's sales matched last October’s extraordinarily strong market, capping off the strongest 10 months of sales in Wisconsin since 2005. 70,000 homes have been sold in Wisconsin this year, pushing median prices 6 percent higher, and Clark says while there are plentiful rural properties available, the market is tightening up in urban areas.
The growth in median prices rose at more than four times the inflation rate, which increased at an annual pace of 1.6 percent in October. Prices for the first 10 months of the year were up 5.1 percent compared to last year.
Clark says interest rates are at close to all time lows, but with the possibility of increasing inflation around, those rates are likely to go up a bit...
".....What the prospect of higher rates can do is get people off the fence, that is, some people that are looking at a period in the future where they're expecting to see higher mortgage rates might decide this is the time to make a change...."
Clark says homes here are affordable compared to other places...
:....and we have a solid economy. We have an unemployment rate of 4.1 percent. We have relatively affordable housing. The affordability is high compared to the Midwest region and it's also high relative to the nation....."
In the Northwoods in October, median prices were up 6 percent from one year ago to $142,000, and sales volume was up 4 percent, or 350 more units, in the 18-county area than last October.
