Condo sales rebound from housing bust

Sale prices remain below their peaks

The downtown Milwaukee condominium market continues to revive, with over 500 units sold last year for the first time since the housing market collapsed, according to a new study.

But sale prices remain below their peaks.

That sales boost was tied in part to low interest rates and “favorable pricing,” said Robert Monnat, chief operating officer for developer Mandel Group Inc., which released the study on Thursday.

Mandel, which develops apartments and condos, used data available on the Multiple Listing Service, which accounts for an estimated 95% of downtownarea condo sales.

The study covers downtown and nearby neighborhoods, including Walker’s Point, the Historic Third Ward, the east side, the Beerline corridor and Brewers Hill.

There were 543 condo sales in the downtown area in 2016. That was the first time sales exceeded the 500 mark since 2007, the study said.

That indicates demand has returned to levels not seen since the boom years of the mid-2000s, Monnat said.

However, sale prices for lowto moderate-priced condos remained at levels that are less than 90% of the selling prices during the peak years of 2006 and 2007.

In the $100,000 to $250,000 range, 315 sales averaged $179,094, or $166 per square foot.

For transactions in the $250,000 to $500,000 range, 168 sales averaged $334,546, or $216 per square foot.

There were 60 sales above $500,000 averaging $840,461, or $348 per square foot.