Real estate in Wisconsin is experiencing its strongest home sales in 10 years as the streaking property market extended its push until September.
On Monday, the Wisconsin Realtors Association (WRA) announced that existing home sales increased by 11 percent compared to the previous year. According to LaCrosse Tribune, the record of sales covered the month of September with the state of Wisconsin registering a high of 12.6 percent in this year's third quarter. The WRA started to measure and publish this monthly data in 2007 with sales in this year's first three quarters recorded the highest in the association's records. If the current rate of sales continues, the WRA is pointing to 2015 as the strongest year since 2005.
In the same report, it was mentioned that La Crosse County sales for 2015 is up 9.5 percent through September but is currently just 1.7 percent. The overall sales in the western region are also up to 13.5 percent with the exception of Buffalo County which recorded lower sales compared to last year. The counties of Crawford, Trempealeau and Vernon recorded a rise in sales up to almost 20 percent compared to the previous year.
Unemployment rate in September was only 4.3 percent and the WRA cites this along with low interest rates as the main factors for the continued surge in property sales. WRA economist Dave Clark said, "Job growth isn't very strong, but unemployment is down. Interest rates are relatively favorable. This paints a pretty solid picture for the state."
However, the WRA also pointed out that the despite the volume of sales continuing to increase, the supply of houses on the market are dwindling. The supply stood at 8.1 months as of last estimate in September which is down from 9.8 months compared last year. Inventory for urban counties are nearing the six months' mark.
