Last year 223 properties sold in the Wisconsin Dells Area. This is a 13% increase in properties sold over 2010. Single Family custom built homes accounted for 97 sales, condo’s 55 sales, land/lots 44 sales and manufactured homes 26 sales. This is a pretty healthy mix of properties being sold and matches up exactly to the mix of sales in 2010.
Property prices are down for all types of properties in 2011 compared to 2010. Single family custom built homes are down on average 8%, single family manufactured homes are down 6%, condo prices dropped 18% and land values dropped 24%. However, there are neigborhoods where property prices did increase.
The inventory of homes to be sold is still a drag on the market. There are currently 670 properties for sale. This is a 3 year inventory. A healthy market should have no more than a 6 month inventory of unsold properties.
Land has the highest projected days on market with 7 years required to sell the current inventory. At the current pace of sales condo’s would require 2 years to sell the current inventory, manufactured homes 28 months and single family custom built homes 23 months. On a state level there is 15.5 months of housing inventory available.
Sales have been spread out pretty evenly throughout the year. 45 units sold in the first quarter, 53 units in the second quarter, 67 in the third quarter and 58 units sold in the 4thquarter. In january of this year 14 units sold indicating the sales trend of 2011 is continuing.
Of the 223 properties sold last year 46 units were real estate owned (REO) properties, this is the MLS designation for foreclosed properties. This represents 21% of the local market which is close to the national rate of 27%. Of the foreclosed properties 13% were single family custom built homes, 4% were condo’s, 2% were manufactured homes and 1% was land. Economists would like to see this number come down to 5% to consider the real estate market healthy.
The outlook for 2012 is mixed. Foreclosed properties are projected to increase as are short sale properties and even if the increase in units sold continues there will still be too much inventory on the market to sell within the year. Property values for vacation homes and land decreased substantially during 2011 and will most likely continue to decrease in 2012. There has been a spurt of vacation homes sales in the 4th quarter and if this trend continues it will be good news for this maket. There needs to be revitalization in new home construction for lots to start selling again and there has been little sign of new construction activity in the area. Single family home sales should be healthy if priced correctly. However, sellers trying to get top dollar for their homes will most likely not be successful in this market.
The market continues to be a good value for buyers. There is ample supply, prices are low and the cost of a mortgage is at an all-time low.