Wisconsin housing market continues to improve

Wisconsin’s housing market is continuing to recover, with home sales up again strongly in May. It’s good news for sellers and buyers alike.

Home sales were up 18.9 percent statewide in May, across all regions of Wisconsin. The central part of the state fared best, with a whopping 31.8 percent increase. Mike Theo is the president of the Wisconsin Realtors Association: “As we’re entering into the strong housing markets of the summertime, this is very good news on a trend that has been really on this trajectory for almost a year now.”

Theo credits several factors for the turnaround, which he says should help people who have been trying for months to sell their homes, “We have historic low interest rates, an average of about 3.8 percent for a 30 year fixed mortgage. We have ample supply. We have a good jobs market here in Wisconsin that supports consumer confidence, the combination of which hopefully will have those folks that have their houses on the market selling soon.”

The news is also good for buyers. With a median price increase of only 1.5 percent in May, Theo says homes are both a bargain and a good investment in Wisconsin, “We have stabilization with prices in our market place. People have confidence that owning a home is not only good for their family, it’s a good economic investment as well.”

The housing rebound also comes as a relief to the state’s struggling realtors.