Winter home sales hit record
Strong demand meant 1.8% more were sold in past 3 months than last year
Wisconsin’s housing market posted a record winter in spite of short supply of homes for sale, the Wisconsin Realtors Association reported Monday.
Between December and February, there were closings on 13,741 homes in the state, the most in a winter season since the Realtors’ organization recalibrated its data tracking systems in 2005.
Peter Sveum, chairman of the Wisconsin Realtors Association, said it wouldn’t have been surprising to see a drop-off in winter — typically the slowest season for home sales in the state — especially with a low inventory of single-family homes on the market.
But instead, with robust demand, the three-month period set a record, Sveum said in the organization’s monthly report.
Winter home sales exceeded the previous winter by 1.8%, and were 15.8% higher than winter sales five years ago, the Realtors said.
The strong demand amid a short supply of houses also is pushing up prices.
In February, the median price of existing homes sold in the state was up 7.4% from the same month in 2017, to $166,000 from $154,500.
New listings of homes for sale were down almost 14% from February last year. Yet sales rose 5.8% for the month, to 3,855 from 3,642 in February last year.
Through the first two months of 2018, sales were 4.7% ahead of last year, at 7,859, compared with 7,505. The median price for sales closed in January and February this year was $167,000, or 7.4% higher than $155,500 in the same span in 2017.
The Realtors group said inventories tend to improve as spring approaches, but the state still is well below where it was this time last year.
On a seasonal basis, inventories hit their lowest point in January, and they typically improve in the spring and peak in the summer before tailing off again in the fall.
The state’s healthy economy and low unemployment are helping to fuel housing demand, according to Michael Theo, president and chief executive of the Realtors’ association. The statewide unemployment was 3.1% in January.
Theo said strong demand and tight supply are why prices have gone up so quickly the last couple of years. The median price is up 14.4% during the past 24 months.