A new report shows Wisconsin’s housing market continued to bounce back in 2013.
The Wisconsin Realtors Association says existing home sales were up 10.8 percent in 2013, while median prices also jumped by 7.2 percent to about $143,000. WRA President Mike Theo says each sector of the state saw improvement, with sales in south central Wisconsin up 15.4 percent and in the northern region up nearly six percent as well, despite being primarily a seasonal marketplace.
Theo says prices were helped quite a bit from a continued drop in foreclosures. He says they are almost back to 2006 levels, before the recession started and foreclosures spiked across the state.
Interest rates have gone up a full percentage-point in the last year and inventories of available homes have also been shrinking, which Theo says could hurt sales as the industry enters 2014. Despite that, he says they remain hopeful that the housing market will continue improve in the coming year.