Wisconsin Housing Market Better Than Most States

[pk]

Study: Wisconsin housing market better than most states.

Families looking to move to a region of the country that wasn't hit too hard by the housing meltdown may find Wisconsin to be worthy of consideration, according to a study published in Wisconsin Real Estate Magazine.


FULL STORY HERE: http://www.upack.com/press/article/s...ates-800344410

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That data holds up when looking at how Wisconsin weathered the initial collapse. But since the post-credit market collapse in late July, south east Wisconsin is almost the hardest hit area in the entire nation. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis was second in the nation for lowest performing markets, prices dropped a whopping -14.6% over the last 3 months alone. You're going to continue to see massive drops in values over the next year in Wisconsin.

The only market worse is in my current city of residence, Columbus, OH. Honestly, this all the more reason to move to Wisconsin, but clearly not the greatest news if you're already a WI resident looking to sell.



U.S. Home Prices Decline for Third Consecutive Month | Mortgage News | Daily National and State Headlines

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That study does a wonderful job of illustrating what we learned 5 years ago, don't trust studies done by local real estate advisors/companies with a clear vested interest in the area.

What was Stephen Malpezzi predicting for the Wisconsin market exactly a year ago? Surprise surprise: prices have stabalized, are back in line with fundamentals and the outlook is positive for residential real estate.

http://news.wra.org/story.asp?a=1240

Seeing the huge drop in prices through 2010 in Milwaukee, it's evident Malpezzi was WAY off. It's amusing how economists and real estate analysts are virtually always grossly optimistic. The Nation Association of Realtors would spin Armageddon as a wonderful buying opportunity.

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A sky-high price-to-rent ratio is perhaps the single best sign that an area is in a housing bubble. Real-estate agents, homeowners and even home buyers can tell a lot of stories to justify the bubble — stories about central cities or good school districts being immune to bubbles — all of this has been disproven over the last three years as eventually people realize that renting is a much better deal and more will do so.

Milwaukee is now higher than all Florida metro areas, creeping up to the top 15 cities with the worst price-to-rent ratio:

Buy vs. Rent: An Update - NYTimes.com

[dgridley]

Current market conditions and trends:

Wisconsin Real Estate Market Conditions, News Reports & Trends