Dr. Lawrence Yun, the senior vice president and chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, says the housing market in the U.S. and in Wisconsin bottomed out in the third quarter and will improve modestly in 2010.

“I think the bottom of the housing market has already occurred,” he said. “Prices are lower compared to a year ago, but things have stabilized. With the homebuyer tax credit, the market should be even stronger in the spring buying season.”

Yun, who spoke recently at a Wisconsin Realtors Association event in Waukesha, predicts the national and Milwaukee-area housing markets will have a modest 2 to 4 percent increase in prices next year as the economy slowly recovers.

“Consumers should not anticipate double digit appreciation anytime soon,” Yun said. “If that occurred, it would be an anomaly.”

After the housing bubble burst a massive oversupply of homes created a buyers market which caused many builders to stop building and many homeowners to hang on to their current homes instead of selling. That resulted in a significant drop in homes listed for sale, which has helped the market recover, Yun said. As sales are picking up inventory levels are now getting closer to normal, which would be a 6-month supply. The current inventory level is about a n 8-month supply, which is an improvement from the 11-monthy supply that was on the market at the beginning of the year.

Home sales in the four county metro Milwaukee area (Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties) were up 75 percent in November compared to November of 2008, according to housing statistics released by Metro MLS Inc.

The metro area had 1,369 home sales in November, compared to 783 in November of 2008.

It was the sixth consecutive month of home sale increases for the metro area. Homes sales were up 34 percent in October and were up between 3.3 percent and 9.8 percent during June through September.

November was the third consecutive month that the region’s home sales outpaced the corresponding month in 2007. Metro Milwaukee home sales in November of 2007 were 1,126, or 21.6 percent lower than in November of 2009.

In November homes sales were up 68 percent in Milwaukee County, 70 percent in Waukesha County, 114 percent in Washington County, 119 percent in Ozaukee County, 87 percent in Racine County, 23.3 percent in Kenosha County and 42 percent in Walworth County.

The federal $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, which was to expire at the end of November, was a major reason for the month’s surge in sales. Congress has since extended to tax credit to April 30 (for sales that close by June 30), now providing a $6,500 tax credit to all home buyers.

“Brokers are happy that the federal tax credit has been extended, and the manner in which it will expire in 2010 will benefit consumers,” said Mike Ruzicka, president of the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors. “Prior to the Nov. 30 deadline, many buyers were confused about what the deadline meant, thinking that as long as they made an offer that was accepted by the seller they could take advantage of the tax credit, not realizing that the deal had to be settled by the end of the month.”

Sales are expected to slow down in December, which is usually a slower month, without the pre tax deadline rush.

The housing market remains a buyers market and listings of homes for sale are still down, according to the MLS data. Home listed for sale in the Milwaukee area were down 1.8 percent in November. Washington County, however, had an increase in listings of 9.7 percent.

Framingham, Mass.-based The TJX Companies Inc. recently informed the state Department of Workforce Development that it will close its Marshalls store at 9149 N. Green Bay Road, Brown Deer. The store is located northeast of Green Bay Road and Brown Deer Road. It will close in February and as a result 51 employees will lose their jobs. TJX is an off-price retailer of apparel and home goods products. Its U.S. stores include T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods and A.J. Wright. There are more than 800 Marshalls store locations in the U.S.

Cardinal Capital Management Inc. and Our Space Inc. plan to build a four-story, 30-unit apartment building at 525 W. Lincoln Ave., Milwaukee, for residents with special needs. A two-story building on the property will be demolished to make way for the new building. In addition to the apartments, the building will have office space for Our Space Inc. The developers say the project’s goal is to help residents with mental illness develop the skills needed to live independently and attain a more meaningful life.

Developers plan to build 37 affordable housing units in two buildings that would be built on a central city block bounded by North Teutonia Avenue, West Hadley Street, North 15th Street and West Center Street on Milwaukee’s north side.

Franklin Square Apartments LLC, an entity formed by Milwaukee-based Maures Development Group LLC and Northbrook, Ill.-based Brinshore Development LLC, is the developer for the project.

The first building for project would be a four-story building, located at the northeast corner of 15th and Center, with 27 apartments and a small amount of ground floor commercial space that would be occupied by Maures Development Group. The second building would be located at the southwest corner of Teutonia and Hadley and would have 6 townhomes and 4 flats.

The $10 million project would be financed in part through federal affordable housing tax credits allocated by WHEDA (Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority).

Maures Development is owned by developer Melissa Goins. The firm’s most recently project is Teutonia Gardens, a mixed-use affordable housing development located at the northwest corner of Teutonia and Center.

Bishop’s Creek Community Development Corp., which plans to redevelop a former central city tannery complex at West Hampton Avenue and North 32nd Street in a five phase project, is planning to redevelop a 5-story building into a dormitory for 40 students at the proposed Holy Redeemer Christian Academy.

The 23,875-square-foot building would be renovated and a 2,200-square-foot addition would be added to the west side and a 1,500-square-foot addition would be added to the east side. The project is expected to be built next year.

The first phase of the development, a 55-unit low income housing structure, is under construction and is being co-developed by Common Bond Communities.

The final three phases of the project would include office space, retail space, an artist’s studio, a community arts center, a conference center, restaurants and a hotel.

About 375 people attended the seventh annual BizTimes Commercial Real Estate & Development Conference, southeastern Wisconsin’s premier networking and information event for the industry, which was held on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009 at Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee. The theme for this year’s conference was, “What Now? Strategies for Revival.”

The event featured a panel of national commercial real estate and economics experts. They included: Robert Bach, senior vice president and chief economist of Grubb & Ellis Co.; Rhyne Brown, executive vice president of client development at NAI Global; Ross Moore, executive vice president and director of market and economic research at Colliers International Property Consultants Inc.; Maria Sicola, executive managing director and head of research for the Americas at Cushman & Wakefield Inc. and Jack Durburg, executive managing director of the Chicago region for CB Richard Ellis.

For those who could not attend the event, BizTimes Real Estate Weekly will feature a video segment from the event for 10 weeks.

In this week’s video segment, the third of 10, the panel talks about their outlook for the U.S. job market and how it will impact the commercial real estate market.

View this week’s video by clicking here.

View the second week’s video by clicking here.

View the first week’s video by clicking here.

SIOR names 2010 officers

The Wisconsin chapter of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), recently announced its officers for 2010. They are president, Kenneth Braden of Colliers-Barry; vice president, Ned Purtell of RFP Commercial; treasurer, Andrew Jensen of The Boerke Company; secretary, Chris Wilz of U.S. Bank; and past president, Chad Van Zande of CenterPoint Properties.

Hatch named Milwaukee real estate lawyer of the year

Michael “Mick” Hatch, a parnter of Milwaukee-based Foley & Lardner LLP, was recently named the 2010 Milwaukee Real Estate Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers, which is a peer-review publication in the legal profession. Best Lawyers compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting peer review surveys in which thousands of lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. The current, 16th edition of The Best Lawyers in America (2010), is based on more than 2.8 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers. The lawyers being honored as “Lawyers of the Year” have received particularly high ratings the surveys by earning a high level of respect among their peers for their abilities, professionalism and integrity.

Dickman ads new broker

Milwaukee-based The Dickman Company Inc. recently added Anthony Huenerbein as an industrial space broker. 

Shorewest hires closing division assistant manager

Brookfield-based Shorewest Realtors recently hired David Todor as an assistant manager in its closing division. Shorewest’s closing division handles an average of more than 575 closings a month out of its Brookfield Office.

Pabst brewery projects gets LEED certification

The Brewery Project LLC, Zilber Ltd. founder Joe Zilber’s mixed-use redevelopment of the former Pabst brewery in downtown Milwaukee, was notified by the U.S. Green Building Council that it has received pre-approval of platinum certification for LEED for Neighborhood Development, a new rating system designed to recognize large environmentally sustainable developments. The Brewery project includes a sophisticated storm water system with bioswales that capture roof top drainage and storm water runoff from the street system, water management containment areas and permeable pavement to allow water to go into the store water management system. “We are on track to receive the highest certification available under the new LEED for Neighborhood Development Program,” said Brewery president John Kersey. “When Mr. Zilber bought the old Pabst brewery, he made a number of commitments to the city of Milwaukee and its citizens, not only to reestablish a great neighborhood in which to work, live and play, but to set the bar as high as possible for historic and sustainable development.”

Bayshore wins design and development award from ICSC

Bayshore Town Center in Glendale recently received a silver U.S. Design and Development award from the International Council of Shopping Centers Inc. at its inaugural U.S. Design and Development Awards competition. Bayshore Town Center won its Silver Award in the Renovation or Expansion of an Existing Project category. Bayshore Town Center is owned, managed, developed, and leased by Columbus, Ohio-based Steiner + Associates. The design architect of the center was Development Design Group Inc.

IREM Forecast Breakfast, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010, 7-9 a.m., Italian Community Center, 631 N. Chicago, Ave., Milwaukee. For more information, call (414) 476-4736.