This week on the Accunet Mortgage and Realty Show, Brian and David Wickert discuss the uptick in the housing market, and give you the tips you need to take advantage of it.

This week on the Accunet Radio Show:

Join Brian and David as they cover the hottest topics in May-June home sales, from giving you their weekly rate roundup to their most recent client stories.

This week’s highlights

• In May 2019, the median sales price of SE Wisconsin homes hit $250,000 — a 13.6% ($30,000!) increase over May 2018.
• According to a study by Fannie May of 3,000 people, when asked what their credit score was, more than half didn’t know.
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 75,000 new jobs were created in May, with April and March job reports dropping to a rate of 164,000 jobs per month (down from 223,000 in 2018).

May 2019 Home Sales in SE Wisconsin

The National Listing Service and Milwaukee Association of Realtors have released the official home sales data for May 2019 — and it looks great, compared to what we’ve been seeing. We’re still in a seller’s market, but it seems like the supply is finally starting to match the demand.

Single-family detached homes: -0.9% from May 2018

In May, just over 1,800 single-family detached homes were sold. That being said, the median sales price hit $250,000 – the first time Brian has ever seen a median that high! That’s 13.6% (or $30,000) more than the median sales price in May 2018. Obviously, this is a great sign, but does it mean that every home in the Milwaukee area has gone up in value by 13.6%?

Not necessarily. The latest numbers from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s regular says home prices in the area are only up 6.2%. So why the difference?

Well, when you use median, you paint with a broad brush. It includes homes from vastly different price ranges — from $50,000 homes to $500,000 homes. Either way, the numbers conclude that demand is pushing the price of supply higher.

2,541 new single-family listings

Again, we see evidence of inventory growth: There were 724 more new listings than there were sales, meaning the supply is stretching to reach demand. We expect to see this kind of thing in the spring, but coming off such a hot market, it’s comforting nonetheless.

YTD sales are still down

Despite May’s awesome performance, we’re still recovering from a rocky first-half to 2019. Year-to-date, single-family home sales are down 8.8%, and listings are down 5.5%.

May condo sales

May saw 375 condos exchange hands. That’s 8.5% less than in May 2018. Now, the median sales price was up 12% (or $20,000), sitting comfortably at $192,000 — but new listings are down a whopping 17.7%! This means we’re facing an official condo supply shortage.

The fastest (and slowest) moving markets in May 2019

In May, it took the average listing 48 days (or 1.6 months) to go from listing the house to having an accepted offer. That is unbelievably fast – but some of the local markets are moving even faster.

*This data reflects single-family homes in an area with at least 10 sales, and denotes the dates between listing and getting an accepted offer. 

Study: Do you know what it takes to buy a home?

On June 5, Fannie Mae published a study that surveyed of 3,000 potential and active homebuyers to determine how much (or how little) people know about what it takes to buy a home or qualify for a mortgage.

Findings:

Effectively, the results remained comparable to Fannie Mae’s 2015 study.

• Potential and existing buyers still overestimate the amount of down payment and credit requirements needed to buy a home.
• People see their credit scores more often, but the clear majority couldn’t recall what it was.
• Large majority of people don’t know how to improve their credit scores.

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