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Wisconsin housing market heats up

Posted at 6:29 PM, May 12, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-12 19:29:12-04

Home sales for the first quarter of 2016 are the best we've seen in nearly ten years. On top of that the average home in northeast Wisconsin is selling within about 90 days. NBC26 has the details about the booming housing market.

Inventory of homes for sale is down and that means the prices are rising. But many are prepared to shell out some extra cash in this market for the right home.

If you're looking to sell a home, realtors are saying now is the best time in recent memory to do so. Just knock on a couple of doors with for sale signs in their yards, and you’ll find out the same thing.

"Our neighbors across the street just sold their house and it hadn't even been listed and they sold it above asking price," says Monica Merriman of Green Bay.

"Within the week it sold," says Cindy Herm of Green Bay who had her home on the market for less than a week.

Herm got offers on day one of her home being listed, but she didn't expect that.

"We were thinking it was going to take all summer," adds Herm.

At Keller Williams Realty they're selling nearly 30 percent of their homes in less than five days right now.

"Sellers haven't been used to this. They've been beat up over the past couple of years and now the sellers are enjoying a good market," says Ben Bartolazzi a realtor at Keller Williams.

But the experts will tell you, don't put your home on the market before finding your new one.

"The inventory is at a 10 year low," says Bartolazzi.

There's a shortage of homes for sale. Merriman has been looking for nearly a year for the perfect new dwelling and is starting to think her family may have to build a new home.

"We've been pretty frustrated with what we've found. There hasn't been a lot of availability of the kind of property we're looking for," says Merriman.

And while sale prices have risen nearly 20 percent in just three years many are finding out the inventory of homes available, has dropped 20 percent over that time period as well.

Housing experts predict that sales will continue to be strong throughout the summer. That is, just as long as interest rates remain low.