Milwaukee's Luxury Housing Market ~ Tight Inventory?

"Tight Inventory!"

That is all you hear in the media currently. And I am indeed Milwaukee's biggest luxury real estate cheerleader. However, to be successful in luxury, we have to operate in real estate reality.

The market is very robust for homes below $400,000, as two segments of the market are converging to create a very good Seller's market in this portion of housing: the Baby Boomers are downsizing and the Millennials are buying their first homes. Multiple offers and tight inventory is a reality for this portion of the market, but what about homes $400k and above? What does that market look like? 

In the local luxury market throughout Metro Milwaukee, the market over $500K is quite different. It is actually a Buyer's market in this segment.  In this blog post, I hope to educate the luxury Milwaukee market so Luxury Home Sellers can achieve optimal success in selling their homes.

It is disappointing ~ I have not seen one recent expert blog posting or news media publication locally in Milwaukee or Chicago addressing recent trends in the luxury market. This is likely due to very few agents actually specializing in the luxury end of the market - just a handful in Milwaukee and in Chicago.  And it's not popular to rain on the real estate parade, as everyone wants good news, but we need to talk....

I spent the better part of last week explaining the realities of this segment of the market to my Sellers. Many are in disbelief until reality hits 90 days into the listing of their home.  The news media is reporting a Seller's market which is leaving my Luxury Sellers confused. It is important to understand that the entire housing market is NOT a Seller's market -- a large portion of the market, luxury housing, is actually a Buyer's market. This information is really important if you are going to be successful in selling your Milwaukee high-end property.

A big part of my responsibility is to educate the market and my agents. This perspective won't make me popular, however, if you read this and we work together through it, you will be more successful in selling your luxury home, and agents will perform better in this portion of the market for Luxury Sellers. I am right there with you. So let's take the journey together and dive into the realities of the Milwaukee luxury housing market. Here we go:

State of the Milwaukee Luxury Market:

A. Metro Milwaukee has, on average, 14 months of inventory $800,000 and above in Milwaukee, Ozaukee and Waukesha Counties combined.

B. Currently, there are 6 sold listings in Mequon over $1 million for the last 12 months and currently there are 25 listings. The average time-on-market exceeds 2 years in this price-point for Mequon.

C. In Milwaukee County, properties over $1 million is more balanced. We have 25 active listings over $1 million and 29 sold in the last 12 months.  The average home over $1 million takes about 10 months to sell.

D. In Waukesha County, there are currently 104 listings over $1 million and 80 sold properties in the last 12 months. Most of the sales over $1 million are on the fabulous lakes west of Milwaukee. There is about 1.3 years of inventory on the market.

Luxury Home-Selling Strategy:

A. Do a pre-listing inspection and fix everything that comes up on the inspection.

B. Replace all worn carpeting.

C. Freshly paint all surfaces with today's trending colors on wall and trim.

D. Buy the latest furniture or stage your home to the highest degree you can.

E. Take all home exterior photos, now, in the summer.

F. Have a decorator or home staging expert visit your home and provide advice on how to decorate for today's buyers. 

G. Most importantly....schedule a showing to see all the homes in your home's price-point (your competition) and stage your home to be more irresistible than any other home.

Selection is important in everything that is done in this segment of the market. Selling experience and understanding the realities of the luxury market helps ensure you will have better chance than the competition of selling your home. Our in-house experts provide complimentary consultations daily so please free to call Powers Realty for a confidential consultation. We can help!