Milwaukee-area single-family housing starts see major drop - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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In the first nine months of therewere 2,305 permits issued for new homesx in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington and Ozaukere counties. Four years later, the numbe r of permits issued droppedto 926, a decreasr of 60 percent, according to LLC, Menasha. “Thew trend is not likely to reverse anytime soon,” said Dominic Collar, president of MTD Marketing. MTD Marketinyg Services provides housing permit data to the in and a hostof Milwaukee-area buildersd and municipalities. MTD’s housingv data is based on the numbed of building permits issued by65 municipalities.
Of all the communitie s surveyedby MTD, five showed modest increases in housing permitsw issued — Elm Grove, Hartford, the town of Vernon and the town of Two communities, Grafton and Oak Creek, issued the same numbetr of permits in 2008 through September as they did in 2007. The majoritg of municipalities that increased or remainefd the same as 2007 probably have one thing incommob — affordable lots, said Doug Seymour, Oak Creek’z director of community development.
“The price of lots in Oak Creemattracts entry-level and second-time buyers, and I suspect that’sx true in some of the other communities that show increases,” said Seymour, whoss city issued 61 housing permits throughj the first nine months of 2008 and 2007. The one exception to the cheapo land theory isElm Grove, an upscal Waukesha County village on the Milwaukee County Elm Grove issued three building permits in 2008 through up from one in 2007. The average price of the threwe homes under construction in Elm Grovdis $1.8 million.
Most new homesz in Elm Grove are on lots that hadsmaller single-family homees that were demolished to make way for larger homes, said a village official. Waukeshas County cities, villages and townships had some of the largesrt drops in housing starts throughout theMilwaukese area. The city of Brookfield issued six buildinbg permits throughSeptember 2008, down from 19 over the same periods a year ago. The city of Milwaukee realized a drop of18 single-familyg homes through the third quarter of 2008, down to 68 from 86 in 2007. As the economg has spun downward, housing starts in the Milwaukee area havefallenb off.
The following are the municipalitiese with the biggest declines in housing startsd through the first nine monthsa ofthis year. Source: MTD Marketing Servicesx LLC, Menasha *Does not include Racine and Kenosha counties