Both monthly home sales and total statewide listings were up over the year in November even as the state’s median home price continued to rise, the Wisconsin Realtors Association reports.
Wisconsin had a total of 5,508 homes sold last month, an increase of 1.7% from November 2023 when 5,417 homes were sold. Report authors call this a “modest” increase, and WRA President and CEO Tom Larson notes home sales are generally slower during the winter.
“But there are some potential advantages to buying during this time of year,” he said in the group’s November report. “You will likely face less competition from other buyers, and as a result, you can expect more flexibility from sellers who are motivated to list their homes during this slower season for sales.”
Meanwhile, total statewide listings were 7.9% higher over the year, rising from 17,413 to 18,783 in November. Despite this improvement, WRA says the strong seller’s market persists as just 3.3 months of available supply is constraining homebuying activity. By comparison, a balanced market requires 6 months of supply, report authors note.
“The inventory of available homes remains very tight even as solid demand conditions persist,” they wrote. “The mismatch between supply and demand has limited sales growth and driven up home prices.”
Wisconsin’s median home price rose 10.8% over the year to reach $310,000 last month.
Mary Jo Bowe, board chair for WRA, notes the 30-year mortgage rate has “clearly come down” over the last year after peaking near 8% at the end of October 2023. But it’s remained around 6-7% for most of 2024, averaging 6.8% in November, she said in the report.
“High mortgage rates create significant affordability problems for first-time buyers who rely heavily on financing to buy homes,” she said.
The report shows November home sales varied widely by region, with the south central region of Wisconsin seeing 6.9% growth and the west seeing 15.3% growth. By comparison, the southeast had a 1.2% increase, the central region saw a 0.2% decline and the northeast declined 4.4% and the north was down 5.1%.
“In contrast, year-to-date growth for 2024 was consistently positive across regions, ranging from 1.8% to 6.4%, compared to the first 11 months of last year,” authors wrote.
See the report.
