Market Update

Mother Nature’s abrupt change in temperature each year seems to take everyone by surprise! With the weather changing, a new school year starting and a presidential election in the coming month, many buyers have paused their house search, leaving opportunities for those buyers still standing.

For those of you following the NAR settlement, the rules went into effect in mid-August, so most of the country has been working through many changes. In Wisconsin, since we already had most items as part of our everyday real estate practice, we are only seeing a few changes. For us, the NAR settlement requires that any offer of compensation can no longer be posted on the MLS. Therefore, most buyers are deciding to write their buyer broker fees into the offer to purchase (asking the sellers to help pay for the service) or buyers are planning to pay their buyer agent out of pocket. The other change in Wisconsin is that buyers need to sign an agreement before seeing a showing with a Realtor. This agreement may be a buyer agency agreement or it may be an agreement stating that the Realtor works for the seller. The good news for both of these changes is that it puts pressure on buyers to better understand the home buying process and to seriously consider who they hire to represent them in the sale. More serious buyers should help sellers, who are looking for serious and knowledgeable buyers in order to have a smooth transaction.

If you are considering a purchase soon, the fall and winter seasons are often the best time of year for buyers, as there is less competition. And if you are considering selling, please reach out asap, strategic planning for selling a property is crucial in the current market. I am already meeting with sellers to create a plan for preparing their home for the 2025 market.

Dane County

(single family homes, sourced from the WRA)

A 6% increase in median price in Dane County between Q3, 2023 and Q3, 2024.

There was a 5% increase in # of homes sold between Q3 of 2023 and Q3 of 2024.