GREEN BAY, Wis. (NBC 26) — Northeast Wisconsinites selling their homes are cashing in. And last year, the state government also reaped the rewards of high property values.
"Prices are escalating here, bringing them up to where they are in larger markets," Red Key Real Estate Co-owner Mark Cherney said.
Real estate sales and property values skyrocketed statewide in 2021.
And the median price of homes sold was even greater in Brown County, where Cherney works.
"Probably one of the more active markets in the state," he said. "But I know that pretty much anywhere you go, you're experiencing the same thing."
A new study released on Thursday by the Wisconsin Policy Forum can attest. The nonprofit found a 37-percent increase in revenue from real estate transfers in the 2021 fiscal year.
"Most states collect like a fee or a tax on real estate sales," Communications Director and Policy Researcher Mark Sommerhauser said. "In Wisconsin, it's $3 for every thousand dollars of real estate that's being transferred."
The Forum reports last year's real estate trends were influenced by low mortgage rates, which sat around three percent.
"Record-low mortgage interest rates really provided an incentive I think for a lot of people to buy," Sommerhauser said.
The total number of property sales surged 11 percent.
"Single-family residential sales, we actually had less sales in 2021 than we did in 2020," Cherney said. "But the dollar amount, the volume of those sales actually went up."
The median value of those single-family homes boosted from over $126,000 in 2016 to around $170,000 last calendar year.
"It's unfortunate that the affordability for buyers, especially first-time buyers, that is becoming sometimes unobtainable for them," Cherney said.
As the robust market stands, Cherney sayssellers currently have the advantage, whereas buyers are competing.
"It is a changing market," he said. "I don't think this a bubble. I don't think this is a trend."
