» Not for sale:

Survey reveals reasons some are holding off

Baby boomers unready to retire, a lack of dwellings for downsizing and the prospect of higher home prices are limiting the supply of houses for sale, a survey shows.

Not-quite-ready-to-retire baby boomers, a dearth of dwellings for downsizing and the prospect of home prices rising even higher are among reasons for the short supply of houses for sale in metro Milwaukee, a new survey shows.

The survey by the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors, conducted in part to shed some light on the scarcity of homes for sale in an otherwise red hot housing market, also found a political impediment to people putting their home up for sale and buying another property: the uncertainty created by the climate in Washington, D.C.

The Realtors’ survey queried 500 homeowners — 250 by phone and 250 online — in the greater Milwaukee area May 16-18.

The survey, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.38 percentage points, found about 76% of homeowners feel the regional economy is getting better or staying the same.

Most said if they planned to buy a house in the next year, they wouldn’t be worried about their job situation or getting a mortgage.

But the survey found that homeowners who made it through the Great Recession are in a comfortable position and are being cautious with the equity in their home, said Mike Ruzicka, president of the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors, which released the survey results Monday.

Among reasons for the limited supply of homes for sale in a strong seller’s market:

■ Many have done remodeling to their house in the last few years and want to enjoy the improvements for a while.

■ Many refinanced their mortgage and have a low interest rate.

■ Retirement is not far off, but not close enough for homeowners to move.

■ More than half indicated that with home prices increasing, they want to wait and see if the value of their house rises.

Another issue that’s keeping people — especially baby boomers — from putting their

house on the market is the lack of dwellings available to purchase in the metro Milwaukee market if they want to downsize.

Sixty percent of potential sellers said they would want a condo or smaller home, but few new condos are being built, and home construction is taking place at only a modest pace in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties. In addition, very few of the new homes being built are small.

Instead, the metro Milwaukee area has seen an apartment boom over the past several years.

“We’re at a point where we don’t need any more apartments,” Ruzicka said. “The people who are moving into them, well, it’s because nothing else is available.”

The most surprising finding of the survey was that the unsettling political environment in Washington might also be a deterrent to a better residential real estate market, Ruzicka said.

The survey found that half of the respondents considered uncertainty in Washington a bigger worry than whether they could get the price they wanted if they sold their current home.

It’s “not only the president and his tweets,” said Ruzicka, but issues such as tax policy, the deductibility of mortgage interest and health care.

“These are big issues that impact everyone’s life,” said Ruzicka.

When asked in the survey, “What would worry you most when it comes to buying a home in the next 12 months?,” 50% of respondents ranked the answer “I’m afraid of what is going on in Washington D.C. right now” as the top or second-biggest fear.

The survey was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, an Alexandria, Va., firm that does a lot of polling for Republicans, so it’s not a surprise it included a politically oriented question.

Nonetheless, Gene Ulm, partner at the firm, said he was taken aback that misgivings about the goings-on in Washington might have an impact on consumers’ local residential real estate decisions, especially given that the economy and housing market themselves aren’t struggling.

Ulm said he thinks people are inundated and “shell-shocked” by the state of national politics, and that it’s caused “pause and uncertainty.”

Ruzicka said while it’s long been believed that businesses worry about making a major financial commitment when there’s political uncertainty, the survey seems to indicate it has filtered down to consumers, too.

Said Ulm: “I thought it was a remarkable finding.”