Wisconsin Real Estate Market is Heating Up

The real estate market is really starting to heat up! I'm the broker for 5 offices of the Keller Williams Realty franchises here in Wisconsin. My first office opened in January 2003 on the far west side of Madison. We have grown that office to 106 as of today including 1 branch office in Columbus, WI with 5 agents in that location. In January 2005, we opened our 2nd large office on the far east side of Madison. This office includes a branch office in the quaint village just east of Madison called Cambridge. Between these 2 office we have 54 agents to date.

I've recently been asked to become involved in the Greater Wausau Keller Williams office located in the central part of Wisconsin. This office has 32 agents at this time. Our goal is to grow this office, in a small market, to 46 this year.

Our real estate market statewide hit a wall in late 2005. We don't have a "bubble" so there was nothing to "burst". Simply a market correction occured whereby the average time it took for a listing to sell extended from approximately 30-42 days in mid 2005 to roughly 90-120 days in late 2005. There are some market segments that have remained strong, but as a general rule, the market slowed a bit.

This correction, in my opinion, is healthy and was needed. When demand was far outpacing supply our market value pricing of most homes was beginning to climb at record levels. This was great for a seller in that market but pricing was beginning to outpace a buyer's ability to purchase. The correction in late 2005 will help bring this market phenom back in to check.

Just my thoughts for what they're worth.