After three months of significant year-over-year sales declines for the metro Milwaukee housing market, sales improved during July for the metro area and for the southeastern Wisconsin region.
The number of homes sold in the four-county metro Milwaukee area rose 3.1% in July, year-over-year, according to the latest market report from the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors.
There were 2,334 homes sold in the four-county area in July, compared to 2,263 in the area a year ago.
The number of homes sold fell 1.2% in Milwaukee County in July, year-over-year, but rose 9.5% in Ozaukee County, 5.2% in Waukesha County and 2.4% in Washington County.
That recovery came after metro Milwaukee home sales fell 9.2% in April, 25.2% in May and 13.7% in June, year-over-year.
Outlying counties saw an even bigger increase in year-over-year sales numbers in July. Walworth County sales were up 26.9% in July, compared to July of 2019, sales in Racine County were up 21.4% and sales in Kenosha County were up 20.7%.
For the seven-county region, home sales were up 7.7% in July, year-over-year.
"Despite a global pandemic, the metropolitan Milwaukee real estate market was strong in July," said Mike Ruzicka, president of the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors. "Brokers were very happy with the volume and pace of the market in July. Nothwithstanding an unemployment rate around 10%, historically low interest rates helped fuel buyer interest and sustained a resilient market...The only thing holding back a more robust market was the availability of listings for sale."
Listings were down 1.3% in the four-county metro area and down 3.2% in the southeastern Wisconsin region in July, year-over-year, according to GMAR.
Since the beginning of 2016, a span of 55 months, only 20 months have had an increase in homes listed for sale in the Milwaukee area, according to GMAR. During that same period of time, sales were up in 35 of the 55 months.
"That dynamic explains why prices have been increasing, and why buyers have had a hard time finding properties to choose from," Ruzicka said. "The lack of new construction of single-family and condominium dwellings is a significant cause of the dearth of available listings."
The seasonally adjusted inventory level for the Milwaukee area (the amount of time it would take to sell all of the homes on the market at a given time) in July was 3.4 months, the same as in June. Six months is considered a balanced market, lower than that is a seller's market and higher is a buyer's market.
