Dane County Housing Starts NoseDive
Posted by Jolenta Averill on
Every two weeks for the past 20 years Dominic Collar’s staff drives to 680 municipal offices throughout Wisconsin to count building permits. That's thousands of miles of driving every year. But it's business as usual for MTD Marketing Services of Wisconsin, the sales and marketing forecasting company that Dominic runs. Compiling data for MABA (Madison Area Builder’s Association), among other clients, MTD's unique data gathering, forecasting and analysis enables Dane County builders to make more informed decisions about which price points, square footage and geographic target areas are most likely to succeed from one year to the next in Dane County, Wisconsin.
Dane County Housing Starts for December 2008
December was the worst month for housing starts in…2584 Views, 0 Comments
Good Riddance Year of the Rat. Happy Year of the Ox!
Lake, City, Lake. The motto of the place I live, Madison WI.
The Madison WI housing market continues to hold up remarkably well compared to other areas of the country. Although there is still a significant inventory overhang and it is taking longer to sell, prices are holding up well and homes are selling, provided they're priced right to begin with. There are over 1,100 single-family homes currently on the market so far this month in Madison alone and the current absorption rate (number of months of inventory) for Madison, WI is 10.03 months. It won't be until we get down to six or fewer months that we'll expect the tide to turn from a buyer's market to a seller's market. This could happen in relatively short order depending on what kind of stimulus plans Obama introduces to help the nation's troubled housing…
According to marketrate.com, the national average rate on the 30-year loan fell to 4.96% in the week ending Jan. 15, down from 5.01% a week ago. That is the lowest rate on record. Freddie Mac began its rate survey in 1971. A year ago the loan averaged 5.69%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, a popular refinancing choice, edged up to 4.65% from 4.62% a week ago. Last year at this time the loan averaged 5.21%. 
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