Where are the hottest markets in Dane County? In this post we take a quick look at the larger markets in the western half of the county, specifically Fitchburg, Madison, Middleton, and Verona. 

We use two key measures to gauge market momentum - months of supply and the percent of listings with accepted offers. When we use these two statistics there are two markets which stand out above the rest. 

Dane County's Hottest Condo Market

Condos are selling very well across all of Dane County, but the Verona condo market is the market that stands out above all others. Right now there are only 1.5 months of condo inventory available for sale in Verona. Amazingly, 64% of the condo listings in Verona are under contract and are scheduled to close soon. 

How's the market shaping up this year? Here are our 8 predictions for the 2016 Madison real estate market. 

Prediction #1: The Madison rental market will remain tight. 

Apartment vacancy rates will remain low, even though construction is booming with thousands of new units planned for 2016 and 2017. Dane County's apartment-hungry population continues to absorb new inventory, thanks in large part to the growth of Epic Systems and other local tech companies. The latest vacancy rate data from MG&E shows apartment availability is very tight. 

Prediction #2: Madison apartment rents will rise. 

A shortage of available rentals means rents will rise in 2016. And rising rents will force some apartment dwellers to choose home ownership over

Our short slideshow below provides a concise overview of the latest trends in the Madison, Wisconsin condo market. Our inventory data is up-to-date as of October 17th. All other data is up-to-date through the month of September. Here's a quick narrative on the latest trends in our local condo market. 

Madison Condo Trends - 9/2015

• Inventory remains very low - 2.2 months of supply and less - for condos priced below $250,000. The market dynamics at the lower price points generally favor sellers over buyers. At higher price points the months of supply are much higher. However, there is more than meets the eye with the inventory data. We'll dig deeper into the inventory data in a future blog post. 
• New condo listings are entering the market at a

The video below provides a very quick update on the latest trends for single family homes in Madison, Wisconsin. This update covers the month of September. Here's a quick overview of our sellers' market. 

Madison Single Family Home Market Trends - 9/2015

• Madison home sales set a 10 year high in the month of September. 
• Accepted offers reached an all-time high. As a result we expect a high number of closings in both October and November. 
• Inventory is low, especially for homes priced under $350,000. 
• Expired listings are trending along historically low levels. 
• Days on market are also trending along historically low levels. 
• Home prices are on the rise. 

Dane County Real Estate in the News

This MLS real estate 

The market for single family homes in Verona certainly favors sellers over buyers. On the surface this doesn't appear to be the case when you look at the number of homes sold in July. After all, there were only 23 homes sold in July, compared to 37 in July of 2014 and 28 in July of 2013. What these numbers don't show is that the supply of MLS listings is historically low. Although the demand for Verona real estate is very strong, a dearth of inventory is putting a cap on sales and driving prices higher. 

The graph below shows how the July average Verona home price has been trending over time. Excluding the outlier month of July 2006 (when a few luxury sales drove the average price higher), July home prices reached an all-time high in 2015.