As we recently reported in our February real estate update, home-building activity in Dane County is down by roughly 40% from the peak construction years in the early 2000's.

BUT, what we didn't cover in our report is that the value of the average new construction home continues to move higher. In fact, for the first time ever, the average new construction home value is now over $500,000. This is according to a recent report by Dominic Collar from MTD Marketing Services, based on his historical review of building permits here in Dane County. Note, these numbers for January and February are based on relatively small sample sizes and will fluctuate throughout the year. 

The trend toward higher new construction home values is another reason why we don't anticipate falling prices in Dane County. We're expecting rising values for new construction homes to influence prices for existing homes toward higher levels, too.