Housing report: Milwaukee a rare 'seller's market'

MILWAUKEE, Wis. - In most of the nation's most populous cities, real estate buyers are having an easier time than sellers. But, that's not the case in Milwaukee. 

According to a report issued by Redfin, Milwaukee is one of only five major metro areas in the country where it's a seller's market.

Fewer home sellers than buyers in Milwaukee

Local perspective:

Redfin found that in Milwaukee, there are 16.1% fewer home sellers than buyers. 

That gives sellers more negotiating leverage than those in neighboring states.

Meanwhile, on a national level, home sellers outnumber buyers by 63%. 

That's the largest gap since the housing market crashed after the 2008 financial crisis, and it means most of the nation's largest cities are buyer's markets.

According to Redfin, Milwaukee joins Nassau County, New York; Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; Newark, New Jersey; and San Francisco as the only seller's markets in the nation's top 50. 

Most of U.S. a Buyer's Market:

Many of the most robust buyer's markets are in the Sun Belt, where builders are adding new units to the housing stock.

In Miami, sellers exceed buyers by 158.9%. That's the highest in the country. 

Nashville follows with a 152.3% surplus of sellers.

What they're saying:

Officials at Redfin say that high housing costs are pushing buyers out of the market.

"This is a buyer’s market born out of caution, not strength," said Asad Khan, a senior economist at Redfin. "Buyers have tremendous negotiating power in most of the country because so many other would-be buyers have been priced out of the market, or scared off by economic uncertainty. For house hunters who have the budget and job security to purchase a home in today’s market, that creates a unique opportunity: They can be picky, negotiate and even walk away if the deal doesn’t make sense financially or they find something they like better."

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