WED AM News: GMAR reports rising home sales amid tight market; Senate adjourns without trying to take up ROFR

March 13, 2024

— The Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors is reporting the first two-month streak of rising home sales since 2022, though many more homes are needed to satisfy buyer demand in the region.

Metro-area home sales rose 11.2% over the year in February, according to the latest GMAR report.

A total of 975 homes were sold in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties last month, compared to 877 in February 2023. But GMAR notes home sales in February 2023 were “extremely” low.

“So, while the market is going in the right direction, any jubilation about it has to be tempered,” report authors wrote, adding sales numbers would be much higher if more homes were available.

Meanwhile, the group describes new activity in home listings as “particularly good news,” as 1,351 new listings were logged last month. That’s up 14.8% from 1,177 in February 2023, and marks seven months in a row of increasing listings — the longest streak in a decade, according to GMAR.

Still, the positive trend is occurring within a tight market, the group notes. The four-county area remains “hundreds of listings behind” the level needed to meet demand. Due to these conditions, the average home price increased 7.9% in February, from $323,084 to $348,659.

“It does not appear that the market will achieve any kind of balance to benefit buyers in the near future,” report authors wrote. “To reach a balanced market (commonly understood to be six months of inventory) the four county area needed 5,110 additional units in February.”

While the region is falling well short of that level, new home construction is on the rise, the report shows. A total of 145 new home construction permits were taken out in the metro area in January, compared to 98 permits one year prior. GMAR says that’s a “solid” 48% increase over the year, and 38% higher than the 12-month average.

See the full report.

— The state Senate abruptly adjourned the session without attempting to pull to the floor a heavily lobbied transmission line bill while cutting off the chance for Dems to force politically sensitive votes.

Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, told WisPolitics after the chamber adjourned yesterday that GOP leaders didn’t ask her whether she had members willing to support a pulling motion on the bill.

The measure sought to give existing transmission utilities the first shot at constructing, owning and maintaining high-voltage power lines.

Such a motion would’ve required a two-thirds vote from those in the chamber.

Hesselbein said she even approached GOP leaders about whether they wanted to know how many votes she might have for such a move, and they declined. She said Senate Dems hadn’t caucused on the bill to get a head count and would’ve needed a meeting to dive into the issue had it come up.

Hesselbein also said her caucus had planned a series of pulling motions seeking to force votes on PFAS legislation, the early processing of absentee ballots, paid family medical leave, universal background checks and a veterans’ property tax break. The quick adjournment prevented that.

The roll calls of such votes sometimes end up being used in mail pieces and other ads in political campaigns.

“I guess they’re scared,” Hesselbein said. “They’re really worried about what we were going to do.”

Heading into yesterday’s floor period — the last of the 2023-24 session — insiders were watching to see if Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, would find a way to bring AB 470 to the floor despite a split in his caucus.

LeMahieu declined comment after the floor period through an aide. Meanwhile, AB 470 co-author Sen. Julian Bradley, R-Franklin, ignored a question from a reporter about the Senate’s failure to take up his bill while he was leaving the chamber.

Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin was one of the groups leading the charge against the bill. State Director Megan Novak said the group had counted 11 GOP senators against the bill, which cleared the Assembly last month on a voice vote.

“They finally realized how unpopular the bill was in the Senate Republican caucus, and they just didn’t have the votes to pass such a horrible bill through the Legislature,” Novak said.

The bill was drafted in anticipation of new transmission line work coming into Wisconsin. The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, the regional electric grid that covers the upper Midwest, has approved $10 billion in work on new transmission lines over the next decade, with Wisconsin expected to see about $2 billion of that.

Backers argued that it would bring stability to the market, and ATC Vice President of Regulatory and Government Affairs Ellen Nowak said the utility remains committed to the policy.

“The losers today are the ratepayers of the state of Wisconsin, and it’s unfortunate that this import policy was subject to a lot of misinformation and didn’t make it to the floor,” she said.

— Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce is urging Gov. Tony Evers to sign into law Senate-passed legislation related to electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

WMC yesterday applauded passage of the bill, noting it allows private businesses to offer electric vehicle charging by the kilowatt-hour for a fee while also creating “safeguards against unfair competition” from government-owned EV charging stations.

Craig Summerfield, senior director of environmental and energy policy for WMC, says the bill is widely supported by Wisconsin employers based on recent survey results.

“We encourage Governor Evers to sign this common-sense piece of legislation,” he said in a release.

Other advocates note the bill, if signed into law, would allow Wisconsin to take advantage of $78 million in federal funding for EV charging stations coming from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program.

Milwaukee’s Clean Economy Coalition says Evers’ signing of this bill — along with another authorizing the state Department of Transportation to administer related funding — will “enable the buildout” of EV charging infrastructure throughout the state.

“Installing EV charging stations throughout Wisconsin – particularly near highway corridors and throughout rural parts of the state – is critical to reducing transportation emissions and enabling more Wisconsin residents, businesses, and visitors to adopt electric vehicles,” the coalition said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Clean Wisconsin Climate, Energy and Air Program Director Chelsea Chandler notes the bill passed with strong bipartisan support.

“A statewide charging network will help more drivers make the switch to electric vehicles, slashing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions while creating more jobs and opportunities for local businesses,” she said yesterday in a statement.

See the bill and the WMC release.

— Attorney General Josh Kaul, nine other states and the Federal Trade Commission are suing Cancer Recovery Foundation International, alleging the fund deceived donors.

In a release yesterday, the state Department of Justice announced the lawsuit against the organization, which is also known as Women’s Cancer Fund, and operator Gregory Anderson.

The fund collected $18 million from tens of thousands of donors between 2017 and 2022, but provided less than $195,000 in financial support to cancer patients, according to the DOJ release. Meanwhile, Anderson was paid nearly $780,000, and allegedly used donated funds to pay for expenses such as travel and hotels.

The Women’s Cancer Fund gave about 85% of the funds it collected to for-profit fundraisers hired by Anderson to make “deceptive pitches” on the fund’s behalf, the release shows.

The plaintiffs argue the Women’s Cancer Fund and Anderson violated the FTV Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule and state consumer protection laws.

“Obtaining charitable donations under the guise of helping those in need and then using only a minuscule portion of those funds for the charitable purpose for which they were intended is shameful,” Kaul said in a statement.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, was authorized by the FTC, meaning it has reason to believe the defendants are violating or will violate the law and believes the case is in the public interest.

The other states involved include California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and Virginia.

See the release.

Top headlines from the Health Care Report…

— UW-Madison researchers have developed a therapeutic vaccine for a deadly form of brain cancer called glioblastoma.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

Sign up here.

— The La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting its third annual Better Business Summit April 16, featuring remarks by local business leaders.

See event details and register here.

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