Housing starts nationwide surged 12% in December, resulting in the most new home starts since 2008.
Locally, Dane County’s housing starts followed suit, showing a 94% increase year over year, according to MTD Marketing Services of Menasha. The 64 permits issued in December more than doubled the 33 single-family home and duplex starts recorded in December 2011. For all of 2012, Dane County reported 782 housing starts compared to 599 in 2011. Though it’s good news for a recovering economy, the numbers are still historically low. The average value of a home built in Madison in 2012 was $217,920, down slightly from 2011’s $218,550, and the average square footage similarly decreased from 2,392 in 2011 to 2,259 in 2012.
Statewide, home sales increased 11.2% year over year in December, according to the Wisconsin Realtors Association, while the median sale price also increased 10.4%, from $120,000 to $132,500. For the entire year, Wisconsin saw a 20.7% increase in home sales over 2011 and a 1.1% increase in sale price, from $132,000 in 2011 to $133,500 in 2012.
