According to the Wisconsin Realtor’s Association, low interest rates and lower prices make this a good time for people prepared to buy to get the kind of deal on a home that most could not visualize just a few short years ago!

Fortunately for  Wisconsin, the huge bubble other states experienced did not happen, this kept the state from seeing the monstrous drops of as high as fifty eight percent.  According to a federal agency, the median price for homes in Wisconsin dropped 4.5 percent from the previous year.

The different regions of the state had rises in the number of sales last year, some as high as double digits. A forty one percent rise in the western region, and about a thirty eight percent increase in the southeastern region led the state; with a twenty six percent increase in the northeast and a twenty one percent increase in the north. These rises were in the existing home market and are encouraging considering the economy has not recovered.

It looks like Madison’s real estate market is on the road to recovery, according to former Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, who was interviewed for a recent article in the Wisconsin State Journal. Even though construction is still slow and home values are still in the negatives, analysts say the hemorrhaging has stopped. Mayor-elect Paul Soglin adds, “Hopefully, when we look back, this will be the bottom.”

Here are a few of the statistics from data released in mid-April:

• Madison, WI real estate values dropped just 0.3 percent in 2011.
• During the same period in 2010, home values declined 3.1 percent.
• Values of the average single-family home dropped 0.8 percent to $239,239.
• Declines this year are just half what they were last year.
• Values of condominiums dropped 3.1 percent.
• The Southwest side saw the most decreases in housing value.
• The North Side’s Berkeley neighborhood saw a 5.9 percent decrease in value.
• The West Side’s Sunset Hills neighborhood saw a 2.8 percent increase in home values.
• The East Side’s Eastmorland neighborhood saw a 0.1 percent increase also.
• Commercial real estate values rose 1 percent to $6.9 billion for 2011.

As with any market, negative perceptions from buyers often delay progress. If you’ve been thinking about moving, now is a good time to get a sweet deal before prices continue to rise.