Thanks Gov. Walker! Home sales climb 25% in Wisconsin in March; prices increase

[D. Obey]

March homes sales in Wisconsin jumped 25% while the median price
did something it hasn't done in more than a year - inched a
smidgen higher.

The median price for existing homes sold in the state last month
was $123,500, up 0.4% from $123,000 in March a year earlier,
according to the Wisconsin Realtors Association. That rise in
the overall median price was boosted by increases in regions
outside the southeastern and south central parts of the state,
where the biggest metro areas are located.

"The market is tightening up a bit," said David Clark, a
Marquette University economics professor who analyzed the sales
numbers and prices for the Realtors. "We ought to see some of
that downward pressure we witnessed over the long slog through
this recession and subsequent recovery - the price reduction -
start to wind down."

But he said the little one-month bump in the median price
doesn't necessarily mean home prices have completely bottomed.

"All in all, I look at these numbers and say we can be
cautiously optimistic. But I certainly wouldn't say we've hit
bottom yet, because I don't know for a fact we won't see a
couple more months where it's down a little bit," Clark said.

After peaking at about 72,000 unsold homes in July 2011, the
state has averaged 52,758 unsold homes over the first three
months of this year, the Realtors said.

"Putting a dent in the stock of unsold homes is key to home
price appreciation, and we saw median prices grow in four of the
six regions statewide," said Michael Theo, president and chief
executive of the Wisconsin Realtors Association.

The strongest appreciation in median price was in the north
region, where it rose 10.5% in March compared to March 2011. But
the median price was down 3.1% in the southeast region, which
includes Milwaukee, and off 2.3% in the south central region,
which includes Dane County.

Theo cautioned that some of the change in the median price may
be due to a change in the price mix of homes sold, such as fewer
low-cost vacation homes and more high-end properties.

Through the first quarter of 2012, the median sale price in
Wisconsin was down 2%.

Signs of hope

While the path of median prices may fluctuate, the sales numbers
seem to show a definite pattern upward. Realtors sold 4,791
homes last month in Wisconsin, up from 3,834 in March of last
year. In the first quarter, sales were up 19.2%.

"We certainly had a mild winter, and that may account for some
of the strength in home sales last month, but it's important to
note that we've seen very strong growth in home sales over the
last nine months," said Rob Keefe, chairman of the state
Realtors board of directors.

The Realtors group said an improving state jobs market is
helping home sales.

"If you look at job growth month to month, that also tends to be
a little volatile," Clark said. "But if you look at it over a
little bit longer period of time, we are seeing some modest job
growth. We certainly wouldn't characterize it as robust at this
point, but we are creating some jobs."

Peter Stefaniak, a Realtor with The Stefaniak Group in West
Allis, said the pace of activity in the local residential real
estate market has picked up significantly in the last 90 days.
He said drivers include low prices for homes and "phenomenally
attractive" interest rates. That combination apparently is
letting people who feel increasingly secure about their jobs and
finances consider buying property that would have been harder to
afford in a hot real estate market, such as homes on Little
Muskego Lake.

"If you would have asked me awhile back, moderately priced homes
on the lake were not getting traffic," Stefaniak said. "Now
we're getting traffic, we're getting offers, we're selling them."

http://www.jsonline.com/business/home-sales-climb-25-statewide-
in-march-prices-increase-lh547t3-148519395.html