Home sales in the metropolitan Milwaukee market were down 9.2% year-over-year in October, according to the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors.
The deepest drops in sales came from Ozaukee and Waukesha counties, which saw declines of 19.6% and 13.2%, respectively. Washington County saw sales decline 6.8%, and Milwaukee County saw a drop of 6.3%.
The southeastern Wisconsin region saw a 10.3% sales drop from October 2020. Walworth County sales were down 17.6%, sales in Racine County were down 16.9% and Kenosha County sales dropped 3.8%.
Even though this marked the second consecutive month of declining sales, GMAR remains bullish on the local housing market. The group noted in its monthly sales report that October was only the third month down in sales this year. Also, these numbers are compared to a robust 2020 sales year.
Last month was down from October 2020, but 14.5% ahead of October 2019, GMAR stated.
And 2021 is still on pace to finish around the same number of units sold as 2020, which was a record setter. Last year saw 22,445 homes sold. So far, 19,403 units were sold this year. Using the five-year sales averages for November and December, 2021 would finish with around 22,465 units sold.
Average sales prices were up 4% in October. Listings, meanwhile, were down 5.2% in the metro area. However, year-to-date listings were ahead of the same period in 2020. Through October, the metro area saw 24,060 listings, which was 6.3% ahead of 2020.
There is still a dearth of inventory in the market. In October, there were only enough homes for sale to satisfy 2.9 months’ worth of demand. A balanced market is considered to be six months’ worth of inventory. Subtracting homes with an offer, the inventory level stood at 1.1 months.
