2008 MARKET STATISTICS

Locally and for the 7 county area of southeast Wisconsin, 18,558 properties sold in 2008 almost 20% less than in 2007. This figure includes single family, duplexes and condos.

The average selling price was $209,730 about 8.5% less than 2007. Smart homesellers who used HOMEOWNERS CONCEPT though walked away from closing with MORE MONEY due to our very low fees. For most areas of metro-Milwaukee, prices are now at the pre bubble years of 2003 to 2005. And one has to consider the fact that today's sales prices include properties in a better condition than one could expect at the peak. The reason is that when sellers had the distinct upper hand and many homes were inundated with multiple offers, buyers were willing to overlook issues with a given property. In other words, today's prices are actually lower than the numbers suggest when one considers that sellers have to invest in improvements and repair in order to be able to sell.

Days on the market was an average of 104 however, this figure is very misleading since it does not take into consideration listings which relisted with the same or a different company or took it off the market and listed it later. There are thousands of properties with a year or longer on the market when one combines the total time of various listing times.

Nationally housing starts and permits plunged to an all time low since records began in 1959. That is 76% below the peak in 2005.

It is always the darkest before dawn and these figures suggest that the bottom may be close at hand. With the rates at or below 5%, first time buyer credit and more incentives on deck from Washington an uptick in number of sales in 2009 is to be expected.