Are homes in Milwaukee worth less than before the housing market crash?
After another brutal Wisconsin winter, we’ve made it to the official start of summertime in Milwaukee. It’s time to head to Miller Park to watch the first place brew-crew crush it, and to crush some brews and bust some grooves at Summerfest!
And, on a more serious note, with the arrival of summer, it’s also the high season for Milwaukee’s real estate market. We’ve been thinking—almost ten years after the housing collapse, where does Milwaukee stand in terms of post-crash recovery? Are we in the midst of a housing bubble?
To answer that question, let’s look at some national trends.
According to a new study by the online real estate valuation site Trulia, big national numbers in the housing market shouldn’t fool us. Their data shows that only one-third of markets have returned to pre-recession levels.
Indeed, the major metro indexes do show significant price gains since the housing market crash. Cities such as Seattle, Denver, Oklahoma City, Dallas, and Nashville have returned to, and in some cases even surpassed, pre-crash values. Las Vegas; Ft. Lauderdale; Camden, NJ; New Haven; and Tucson, however, haven’t even come to close to regaining market value.
The Trulia study looked at four main factors: employment, income, population and vacancy rates. Their researchers found home price growth was most closely related to income growth. This is because increases in income mean that households will tend to spend more on housing. This pushes prices up.
As always, supply and demand comes into play. Areas of the highest income growth—locations where jobs are most readily available—are the areas where there is the lowest inventory and therefore the highest levels of home value.
Milwaukee didn’t make it to the top third of the Trulia list for post-recession home value recovery. So if the Trulia study is accurate, and home recovery corresponds to income growth, how do we stack up when it comes to income growth?
As it turns out, not so well.
The most recent monthly report by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce showed that Milwaukee economic indicators were listless in March. Out of 22 indicators, only 11 showed year-over-year gains. February was the fourth month of consecutive job decline. In total, there was a lack of job growth through the first quarter of 2017.
Apparently, when it comes to income opportunity, we can’t compete with places like Dallas, San Francisco, and Denver. Because of this lack of recovered value, many homeowners might be starting to think about delaying putting their homes on the market.
If you’re an owner looking to sell, you don’t have to wait it out until there’s a full recovery of value here in Milwaukee. The real estate professionals at We Buy Ugly Houses® can take your house off your hands immediately, buying your home outright. While the rest of sellers wait it out until market indexes fully recover, you can move on, selling your home "as is" to We Buy Ugly Houses. Contact We Buy Ugly Houses today to learn more.
