Wisconsin’s 2021 home sales might top 2020. They might not. Either way, home prices are going up.

There are still plenty of unknowns heading into the new year, but one thing is for sure: The cost of buying a house in Wisconsin is going up.

For years, the market has been defined by strong demand for homes and a declining number of them on the market. Month after month, prices have been rising — but month after month, homes have kept selling.

The latest report from the Wisconsin Realtors Association found about 7,714 sales of existing homes in November. That was 0.8 percent below the same period in 2020.

But sales for the first 11 months of the year are still 0.3 percent ahead of last year, which saw record sales of existing homes.

“It’s a solid market, there’s just no doubt about that,” said David Clark, the Marquette University economist who releases the monthly sales reports in conjunction with the WRA. “It’s remarkable that we continue to have real strong sales for the year, even as inventory has tightened compared to where we were last year.”

That inventory has tightened considerably; the total number of listings in November was down 7 percent from the year before. As a result, the median price of a home in Wisconsin rose 7.6 percent in November, to $240,000.

Clark said there’s hope among economists that after years of decline housing supply may start to expand in 2022.

Even if it doesn’t, Clark said, the market is likely to stay busy.

“Buyers and sellers have adapted to this tight market,” he said. “They know that this is a market that moves quickly, and even with lower levels of inventory, we’re able to accommodate more sales than was the case when inventories were stronger.”