October Sees A Sharp Rise In Wisconsin Home Sales

Wisconsin home sales continue to grow.

The latest report from the Wisconsin Realtors Association shows more than 9,447 home sales last month, up 24.9 percent from October 2019.

Economist David Clark of Marquette University said mortgage rates have made the already-strong demand for homes even stronger.

“We’re in the seventh month where we’ve hit a new record low for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, and that has got an awful lot of people trying to buy homes,” Clark said. “Refinancing is also pretty active as well.”

The sales growth is even more notable given the dramatic economic decline earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, and because the number of homes on the market in Wisconsin has been sharply declining for the last few years.

“The number of listings is down by about 27 percent compared to where we were last year,” Clark said. “Demand is strong. You’re selling a lot of that inventory, you’re just not replenishing the inventory.”

The falling supply and continued strong demand pushed home prices up again last month.

The median price of a home in Wisconsin increased 11.1 percent in October to $220,000.