Fueled by record-low mortgage rates, Wisconsin’s existing home market saw another sharp increase in sales and prices in October, according to the most recent monthly analysis conducted by the Wisconsin REALTORS® Association (WRA).
For the seventh straight month, mortgage rates fell into record-low territory, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropping to 2.83% in October. As a result, existing home sales increased 24.9% in October 2020 compared to October 2019, and the median price increased 16.3% to $227,324 over that same 12-month period.
On a year-to-date basis, home sales are up 4.5% relative to the sales in the first 10 months of 2019, and the median price rose to $220,000, which is an increase of 11.1% compared to the January-through-October period of 2019.
Home sales increased by double-digit margins in all regions, with closed sales up between 13.6% and 17.3% in the Central, Northeast and West regions. More robust sales growth was seen in the Southeast region, up 25.2%; the South Central region, up 35.2%; and the North, up 42.1%.