Home building slowdown continues in metro Milwaukee, but size and price of homes increase

Home construction continued its slower pace in the Milwaukee metro area in July.

Permits to build single-family houses and duplexes dropped 17%, to 117 from 141 in July 2018 in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties, according to a report from MTD Marketing Services of Wisconsin Inc.

Through the first seven months of the year, permits were down 15%, to 758 from 891, in the four-county area.

Although there are fewer of them, the houses that are going up are a little bigger and more expensive.

The average size of homes for which permits were sought through July was 2,970 square feet, up 2.9% from 2,887 during the same period last year. The average value was $386,207, or 1.2% higher than $381,752 at the same time in 2018.

Much of the home building is taking place in Waukesha County. Menomonee Falls had the most new-home permits through July, with 78. That compared with 68 at the same time last year.

Other top locations for home building, based on permits issued by municipalities, were Oconomowoc, with 58, compared with 45 through July 2018; Mequon, 49, up from 48; and Summit, 47, up from 42.

Waukesha had 40 permits, but that was down from 52 at the same time in 2018. New Berlin posted 32 permits,off from 52 during the first seven months of 2018. Muskego recorded 40 permits, one less than at the same time last year.

Some of the other notable drop-offs were in Sussex, with 26 permits compared with 54; Pewaukee, 17 from 27; Brookfield, 15 from 25; and Slinger, 22 from 31.

Data from MTD shows a slowdown in housing starts in four of Wisconsin's five most populated metro areas, including metro Milwaukee. In Dane County, home construction permits totaled 723 through July, down 7.1% from 778 last year, while permits dropped 22.4% in the Fox Valley, to 330 from 425. In the Racine-Kenosha area, 400 permits were issued, down 10.1% from 445.

The Green Bay-Door County area saw the only uptick in home building permits in the first seven months of 2019, rising 3.5% to 385 from 372.

Paul Gores can be reached at  paul.gores@jrn.com  Follow him on Twitter @pgores