Selling season off to strong start in area
Demand outstripping supply as sales up 11%
The metro Milwaukee housing market remained red hot last month, despite a short supply of homes for sale.
Sales of existing homes jumped 11% in February compared with the same month in 2017, a report Wednesday by the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors shows. There were 1,049 closings in February, up from 945 in the same month a year ago in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties.
It was the strongest February for sales since before the Great Recession, when 1,155 homes were sold in February 2006.
“The metropolitan area has enjoyed a strong sales market since the beginning of 2015,” Mike Ruzicka, president of the local Realtors organization, said in his monthly report. “The influx of first-time buyers — accounting for 40% of the market — historically low interest rates and a strong job market all provide for a hot market.”
The demand is driving up prices. Data from the Wisconsin Realtors Association showed that, in February, the median price of homes sold in Milwaukee County was $140,000, up from $127,900 in February 2017. Other median prices in February in metro counties: Ozaukee, $270,975, up from $216,750; Washington, $224,500, up from $212,000; and Waukesha, $260,000, up from $256,750.
Ruzicka said as the market heads into the height of the selling season of March through July, there are no signs it will slow down.
“The biggest constraint in real estate sales is the availability of homes for sale,” he said.
Every county in southeastern Wisconsin saw a decrease in property listings from February a year earlier.
In January through February in the four-county metro Milwaukee area, there were 3,416 homes listed for sale — the lowest number to start any year this century, the Realtors group said.
Ruzicka said homes priced at $300,000 or less made up 81% of sales in February, and many sold quickly.
“Units that are in good condition with a good school nearby are selling in just a few days,” he said.
Homes priced above $300,000 also are selling, but in a more-typical 60-to-90-day time frame.
February home sales increased 11.4% in Milwaukee County, to 614 from 551 in 2017. Sales jumped 50% in Washington County, to 117 from 78.
In Waukesha County, February sales rose 1.9% to 266 from 261; in Ozaukee County, sales decreased 5.5% to 52 from 55.