Wisconsin Home Affordability Reaches Record Low; Realtor Advises Buyers To 'Consider Adjacent States' For Value

WAUKESHA — The Wisconsin Realtors Association released data this week showing statewide home sales dropped 8% compared to the same period last year, with the state's housing affordability index falling to its lowest recorded level, a development one local agent described as "unprecedented territory."

David Morrison, 43, a Waukesha realtor with 19 years in the business, said Tuesday he's begun adjusting the advice he gives prospective buyers accordingly. "You could afford a lovely home in Indiana with what you'd spend on a starter condo here," Morrison told clients during an open house on Dopp Street, gesturing, for context, generally westward.

"You could afford a lovely home in Indiana with what you'd spend on a starter condo here."

— David Morrison, Waukesha realtor

The Condo

Morrison's current test case is a 750-square-foot condo downtown listed at $275,000, which drew exactly two viewings in its first week, both from the same couple who returned a second time to remeasure the kitchen. Morrison said the unit has a granite countertop, a stackable washer-dryer, and a parking spot he describes in the listing as "assigned, dedicated, yours," three adjectives he said he wouldn't have needed five years ago.

By Morrison's math, a household earning the county's median income would need to direct 45% of gross pay toward housing costs to qualify for a mortgage on the unit, a figure he arrives at using a spreadsheet he updates every Monday morning before his first showing. "I used to round down when I gave people that number," Morrison said. "I don't round anymore. There's nowhere left to round to."

The Comparison

Neighbors on Backslide Way have taken to citing Ned England's 2012 duplex purchase as an informal benchmark for how far the market has moved. England, 70, bought the property 14 years ago and lives in the lower unit, renting the upper to his son Troy. "People bring it up like I did something clever," England said. "I didn't do anything clever. I just didn't wait."

England said a neighbor recently asked what he paid, and after he told her, she went quiet for a few seconds and then changed the subject to his lawn. "That's usually how I know a number landed," England said.

Adjacent States

Morrison said the "adjacent states" framing isn't a joke he tells clients so much as a planning tool. He keeps printouts comparing Waukesha listings to similar-sized homes across the state line, which he shows to buyers who've aged out of their price range without moving anywhere. "I'm not telling anyone to leave," Morrison said. "I'm telling them what their money does somewhere else. What they do with that information is their business."

The Wisconsin Realtors Association's statewide figures do not break out Waukesha County specifically, but Morrison said local conditions track the broader trend closely enough that he no longer waits for county-level data before updating his own numbers. "By the time the county figures come out, I've already had the conversation twenty times," he said.

Morrison's open house on Dopp Street closed at 4 p.m. without an offer. He said he'd relist the following Monday "at the same price, because there isn't a worse number that makes sense."