Home sales drop 23 percent in first quarter

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Rising unemployment is blamed for a nearly 23 percent decline in the sales of existing homes in Wisconsin in the first quarter of the year.

Realtors’ groups say the national drop was only about 7 percent, due mainly to higher sales of foreclosed homes out West.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin home sellers are getting a better deal than those nationally.

The median home price in the Badger State fell 9.5 percent in the first three months of the year, compared to the same time in 2008.

The national price drop was almost 14 percent. The median home price in Wisconsin was 137,500 dollars from January-March.

William Malkasian of the Wisconsin Realtors Association says it reflects lower prices for first-time buyers and he said there were not many high-end homes being sold in the last quarter.

Green Bay was one of 18 U.S. metro areas where home prices went up, with a 1 percent climb from a year ago.

Marquette professor David Clark said Wisconsin avoided the explosive growth that many Sun Belt states had in recent years and that’s why the market is less volatile here.

Clark said the rising unemployment hurt consumer optimism.

But with low interest rates and the $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers, Clark says improvement should be seen as early as the current quarter.

Tags: home sales, news, wisconsin