Metro area home sales inch up

February units increase 1.5% over previous year

February sales of existing homes in the Milwaukee metro area rose 1.5% from the same time a year earlier, a modest increase real estate professionals say is due at least in part to a shortage of homes on the market.

A report from the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors on Friday showed there were 945 closings in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties last month. That compared with 931 in February 2016.

“Inventory is chronically low, and somewhat worrisome as we head into the spring selling season,” Mike Ruzicka, president of the local Realtors organization, said in his monthly report.

The inventory of homes with a list price of less than $300,000 is especially scarce.

The average price of homes sold in February wasn’t included in the report, but the limited market is expected to push up the value of residential property.

“With sales and listings going in opposite directions, the market is building up price pressure in the coming months,” Ruzicka said.

He said it appears average prices could reach their 2006 and 2007 peaks this year, finally recovering the value lost during the Great Recession and its aftermath.

Through the first two

months of 2017, homes sales in metro Milwaukee increased 2.9%, to 1,918 from 1,864.

Two of the four metro area counties had home sales increases last month from February 2016: Milwaukee, 551, up 0.7% from 547, and Waukesha, 261, up 6.5% from 245. Sales were unchanged in Ozaukee County at 55, and slipped 7.1% in Washington County, to 78 from 84.

A separate report shows that permits to construct new homes in the four-county area increased in February from the same month in 2016. MTD Marketing Services of Wisconsin Inc. reported 96 homebuilding permits were issued in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties last month, compared with 84 in February 2016.

Through the first two months of this year, there were 195 permits for single-family homes or duplexes in the metro area, or 6.6% more than 183 in the same period of 2016. The two hottest communities for new homes so far this year were Menomonee Falls, with 25 permits, and Mequon, with 24.