Local Housing Update for Eau Claire

Written By: the ECJ Staff  |  Posted: Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Now is the time to buy according to Dave Fitzgerald, President of the Realtor Association of Northwest Wisconsin. "Though the prices of midrange homes ($100, 000 - $200, 000) have been relatively stable, the value of lower and upper price range housing has declined over the last 12 months." This is because of a large amount of foreclosures and also because more buyers of the upper-level houses are conservative in what they buy. Because demand is down, prices are down.
Nevertheless, because the economy in Eau Claire is relatively strong compared to other Wisconsin cities and the outlying rural areas, "the Eau Claire housing market has done better", Fitzgerald says. For those trying to sell their house in a low price market, Dave recommends, "price your house competitively and make sure it is in good condition. It's hard to compete against the foreclosure market. But because those houses are in generally poor condition, you can compete against them if your house is in good condition."
Concerning land prices, "Because the demand for new construction is down, the demand for developmental land is down. Therefore prices are down." This is true slightly for farmland, though "farmland still has value as farmland". But because developmental demand is down, and because there is now a penalty for farmers who rezone their land from working farmlands to residential land, farmland values are down. "The value of hunting land remains somewhat unchanged."