Home sales increase 16.9%, availability of houses in the city tighten

He says the region had the best month of any in the state, with a 30 percent jump in sales.

Along with that, new home construction is off to its strongest start in 8 years.

Sales of existing homes in Wisconsin rose almost 17 percent in July compared to a year ago.

In the eight-county southeast Wisconsin region, the median price increased to $178,000 in July, up 4.7 percent compared with last year’s number.

The statewide median price in 2015 is $157,000. “We’re definitely on pace for a very strong 2015 if sales continue to grow at this pace”, said Kruse.

Home sales were up in every region of Wisconsin in July.

Economists credit the state’s unemployment rate and pent up demand for Wisconsin’s strong showing so far this year in residential real estate.

“The slowed increase in the median price is a good thing in order to keep housing affordable for all price ranges of homebuyers”.

“The supply of available housing continues to tighten and has become a more serious problem in the cities”, said WRA president and CEO Michael Theo.

Although new listings of homes for sale are up slightly for the year, they dipped somewhat in July, putting some pressure on inventories, according to the WRA analysis.