Home sales and listings across Wisconsin saw modest increases in November, even as median home prices continued to climb, according to the latest report from the Wisconsin Realtors Association (WRA).
A total of 5,508 homes were sold statewide last month, marking a 1.7% increase from the 5,417 homes sold in November 2023. Statewide listings also rose by 7.9%, climbing from 17,413 in November 2023 to 18,783 last month. Despite this increase, WRA emphasized that the market remains firmly in favor of sellers, with only 3.3 months of available inventory, well below the six months needed for a balanced market.
The state’s median home price also jumped 10.8% year-over-year, reaching $310,000 in November.
Mortgage rates, which have been a significant factor in affordability, have shown slight improvement. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate has come down since peaking near 8% in late October 2023. However, rates have hovered between 6% and 7% throughout 2024, averaging 6.8% in November.
Home sales growth varied by region in November. The west region saw the highest increase at 15.3%, followed by the south-central region at 6.9%. Meanwhile, the southeast region had a modest 1.2% increase, and the central region declined slightly by 0.2%. The northeast and north regions saw sharper drops, with sales falling 4.4% and 5.1%, respectively.
Year-to-date growth for 2024, however, showed consistent positivity across all regions, ranging from 1.8% to 6.4% compared to the first 11 months of 2023, the report noted.
