July 2020 Home Sales Report
Record July Home Sales Push Prices Up
Date: August 17, 2020
MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin’s existing home sales hit a new record for the
month of July, which increased prices by double digits, according to the most
recent monthly analysis of the state housing market by the Wisconsin REALTORS®
Association (WRA). Sales of existing homes rose 7.6% in July relative to that
same month in 2019, and the median price rose to $226,400, which is 10.4% higher
than July 2019. On a year-to-date basis, sales are now only slightly lower than
this time last year, with sales in the first seven months of 2020 just 1.9%
below the same period of 2019, and prices are up 8.4% to $213,000.
“July was a remarkably robust
month for home sales, given what we’ve been through the past four months,” said
WRA Chairman Steve Beers. A total of 9,649 homes were sold in July, the most
homes sold during a July since the WRA re-benchmarked its data-collection
methods in 2005. The previous record was July 2019, when 8,969 home sales closed.
“What makes this record even more impressive is that it happened in an
environment of extraordinarily tight inventories,” said Beers. There were just
four months of available supply in July, which is well below the six-month
level that indicates a balanced market. “We’ve been in a seller’s market for
almost three years,” he said. While every region of the state saw increases in
sales, the strongest growth was in less-urbanized areas. Over the last 12
months, home sales were up 18.6% in the North region, and they rose 11.1% and
11.7% in the Central and West regions, respectively. “This makes sense because
rural areas have higher inventory levels,” said Beers. Statewide, rural
counties had 6.4 months of available supply in July, compared to just 3.4
months of supply in the metropolitan counties.
“We had record home sales because
we had record-low mortgage rates,” said WRA President & CEO Michael Theo.
This was the fourth straight month where the 30-year fixed mortgage rate dipped
into record-low territory, falling to 3.02% in July. By comparison, mortgage rates
were at 3.77% just a year ago, so they have fallen three quarters of a percent.
“Wisconsin’s home prices were up over 10% over the last year, yet affordability
only dropped 4.5% over the period,” said Theo. The Wisconsin Housing
Affordability index shows the percent of the statewide median-priced home that
a buyer with median family income qualifies to purchase assuming a healthy 20% down
payment and the remaining balance financed with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage
at current rates. The index stood at 193, which means that buyer qualifies to
purchase 193% of the median-priced home.
Theo noted that even though
Wisconsin home prices have been appreciating quickly on an annual basis, home
prices are still well below national levels. The median price of a home in the
U.S. in June was $298,600, which is the latest available data from the National
Association of REALTORS®. By comparison, the Wisconsin median price in
June was just $222,500. “Your income buys a lot more home in Wisconsin than in
other areas of the country,” said Theo.
“We just had the biggest quarterly
contraction in U.S. history,” said David Clark, Marquette University economist
and consultant to the WRA. The advance estimate of real GDP, a measure of
inflation-adjusted national output, dropped 32.9% in the second quarter,
relative to the first quarter of the year. “While this is a shocking figure,
it’s not surprising given the economic lockdown intended to control the
pandemic,” said Clark. He notes that there will be mixed economic signals in
the months ahead, but he expects improvement in the second half of the year.
“Consumer confidence fell in July due in part to the resurgence of COVID-19 in
some regions of the country, but nationally, workers continue to return to
work,” he said. In August, initial claims for unemployment in the U.S. fell
below 1 million for the first time since the national emergency was declared in
March. “This trend in the labor market should continue now that the federal
$600 enhancement to weekly unemployment benefits has expired, and that should help
alleviate some of the labor shortages that emerged in the summer,” said Clark.
“We can’t expect record sales
every month especially given the supply crunch, but these record-low mortgage
rates will fuel the demand side for the late summer and fall sales season,”
said Theo. He noted that this is a great time for sellers to list their homes.
“REALTORS® are moving homes quickly in this hot market, often at or
above the listing price,” said Theo. “We expect that to continue the next few
months assuming mortgage rates remain low, so this is an ideal time to work
with a REALTOR® who is experienced to sell your home,” he said.