Wisconsin Realtors Association's New Chief Executive Sees Good and Bad News for Home Buyers and Sellers

Wednesday, January 24th, 2024 -- 11:00 AM

(Jeff Bollier, Green Bay Press-Gazette) The Wisconsin Realtors Association's newly promoted chief executive has good news and bad news for prospective buyers and sellers.

According to Jeff Bollier with the Green Bay Press-Gazette, the good news: Signs of hope have emerged for buyers beleaguered by a lack of inventory and high mortgage interest rates, said Tom Larson, WRA's President and CEO. "We're seeing signs of improvement. There's hope," Larson said.

The bad: It could take years to ramp up new home construction to the level necessary to significantly ease the current mismatch between the short supply of homes for sale and outsize demand for them, he added.

"We still have the two biggest generations we've ever had in our history competing for housing at a time when we've produced too few housing units for the last decade," Larson said. "It's kind of the perfect storm."

In recent months, inventory improved and interest rates declined, signs Larson said the market had "regained some sanity." By that, he means buyers don't have to waive home inspections, buy sight-unseen or offer tens of thousands over asking price in order to stay competitive.

Mortgage interest rates on Jan. 18 reached 6.6% on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, down than 1% from their October peak at about 7.8%, which means buyers will pay a little less in interest in their monthly mortgage payment.

But that doesn't mean the market has reverted back to its old self, nor that inventory is anywhere close to the six months-worth that indicates a market is "balanced" between buyers and sellers.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.