Sales of existing homes grew less than 1% in June in Wisconsin and the United States, held back by a short supply of houses for sale.
But at the same time, prices continued to rise in the state and nation.
A report Monday by the National Association of Realtors showed June closings on homes in the U.S. inched up 0.7% from June of 2016. But they were down 1.8% from May of this year.
"Closings were down in most of the country last month because interested buyers are being tripped up by supply that remains stuck at a meager level and price growth that's straining their budget," Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the national Realtors organization, said in a statement. "The demand for buying a home is as strong as it has been since before the Great Recession. Listings in the affordable price range continue to be scooped up rapidly, but the severe housing shortages inflicting many markets are keeping a large segment of would-be buyers on the sidelines."
A recent report by the Wisconsin Realtors Association showed June home sales in the state increased by 0.9% from June a year ago, to 9,961 from 9,874. There would have been more sales if not for the tight inventory, Realtors said.
"The main factor keeping sales from growing is our lack of homes for sale," Erik Sjowall, chairman of the Wisconsin Realtors Association, said in the group's monthly report.
Through June in Wisconsin, new listings of homes for sale were 4.4% lower than in the first half of 2016. Sales of existing homes in the six months of 2017 were just a bit higher than in the same span in 2016 in the state, 38,470 compared with 38,355.
David Clark, a Marquette University economics professor who analyzes sales data from the state Realtors organization, said Monday he expects the second half of 2017 to look a lot like the first half — high demand for homes but not enough properties on the market to produce big sales increases.
"Demand conditions are just so strong right now and supply is just so tight, it's kind of a tug of war," Clark said. "I think we're on track to have — in terms of sales volume — a year like last year, a solid year. But it will certainly be the case that prices continue to go up at 5%, 6%, 7% on a year-over-year basis. I don't see anything that's going to stifle demand."
In Wisconsin, the median sale price in June was $186,000, or 6.3% more than $175,000 in June 2016. Nationally, the median price in June was $263,800, up 6.5% from $247,600 from the same month last year.
The thin inventory is especially hard on people seeking to buy their first home.
"It's shaping up to be another year of below average sales to first-time buyers despite a healthy economy that continues to create jobs," said Yun. "Worsening supply and affordability conditions in many markets have unfortunately put a temporary hold on many aspiring buyers' dreams of owning a home this year."
