(Wisconsin) The Wisconsin Realtors Association released their October 2024 Home Sales Report. October home sales rebounded after falling in September. Compared to October 2023, existing home sales rose 3.5%. Strong demand and tight supply continue to put upward pressure on the median price, which rose 10.7% to $310,000 over the past 12 months.
On a year-to-date basis, closed sales rose 4.1% relative to the first 10 months of 2023, and the median price rose 8% to $310,000. Inventories have improved due in part to the spike in listing recorded in October. New listings rose 8.6% compared to a year earlier, which pushed total listings up 8% over October 2023. Inventories improved across all urban-rural classifications, but they remain tightest in the state’s metropolitan counties, which had just 3.4 months of supply in October. In contrast, micropolitan counties, which include smaller cities and towns, had 4.2 months of supply, and counties classified as rural had 4.9 months of supply.
The state remains a seller’s market and would have needed 12,720 additional listings in October to reach a balanced market characterized by six months of supply. After falling 88 basis points between May and September, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reversed course and increased a quarter percent in October to 6.43%. Still, mortgage rates are more than a percent lower than October 2023 when the average rate was 7.62%.
Although mortgage rates did improve over the last 12 months, the spike in media prices and the tepid growth in median family income over the last year led to very little improvement in affordability. The Wisconsin Housing Affordability Index rose just 1.6% since October 2023.
The full report from the Wisconsin Realtors Association can be found HERE.
