Median home sale prices in Wisconsin were up 7.5% statewide in July, compared with July of 2022, but weak inventories continue to limit sales of existing homes and drive prices up, according to the latest analysis by the Wisconsin Realtors Association.
The report found that existing home sales in the state dropped 20.8%, year-over-year, to 6,728 in July 2023 and are down 23.6% for the first seven months of the year compared to the same period a year ago.
This comes as mortgage rates continue to rise, adding to the challenges for some buyers, the report notes.
"Unfortunately, rates have been moving in the wrong direction, with average 30-year rates at 6.84% in July," said Michael Theo, president and CEO of WRA. "This is near the peak levels of last October when they averaged 6.9%. Hopefully we see improvement in the next few months.”
Months of inventory, or how long it would take to sell all of the homes on the market at a given time, had the largest improvement in rural areas over the past year, increasing from 4.3 months in July 2022 to 4.8 months in July 2023. In contrast, large metropolitan counties in the state saw months of supply unchanged at 2.9 months, according to the report.
“A balanced market is six months of supply, and so it was good to see some movement toward that benchmark in our rural counties," said Joe Horning, chairman of the WRA board of directors. "However, we still have very low inventory levels in our urban areas, which is making it difficult for younger households to effectively compete for homes.”
This is the second straight month in which the median home sale price statewide was above $300,000, the report says.
In southeast Wisconsin the median home price was $310,000 in July, up 6.9% from last year. Sales for the month were down 21.4%.
Waukesha County had the highest median home sale price in July — both regionally and statewide — at $455,000, though Kenosha County saw the highest increase in home prices regionally at 19.1%.
Median prices in Milwaukee County were at $250,000, up 6.4% from a year ago.
