(The Center Square) – The people who sell homes in Wisconsin are blaming higher interest rates for September’s drop in home sales.

The latest report from the Wisconsin Realtors shows a dip in home sales last month. It also shows another jump in prices.

"Existing home sales fell 2.4% in September relative to September 2025, and the median home prices rose just 1.5% to $342,000 over that same period," the report states.

The report shows real estate agents sold 6,284 homes in September. That's down from 6,439 in September of last year.

There were, however, more homes for sale in September of this year. The report shows there were 25,655 total listings last month.

Most of those listings, and most of Wisconsin's home sales, once again happened in the Milwaukee and Madison areas.

The Realtors said 52% of all homes sold in the state were either in southeast Wisconsin or the south-central area near Madison and Dane County.

Prices are also highest in those two areas. The report puts the median price for a home in the Madison-area at $385,000. The median price for a house in the Milwaukee area comes in at $366,500.

Wisconsin's most affordable homes continue to be in the central part of the state, with a median price of $269,000.

But Realtors executives are not focused on prices this time. Instead, they are most concerned with rising mortgage rates.

“September closed sales were down by 2.4% even as total listings and months of supply both improved over the last 12 months. The primary reason for reduced sales was rising mortgage rates, which softened buyer demand for existing homes," Realtors Chairman Amy Curler said in the report.

“Mortgage rates have reached their highest level since January 2025. If these trends continue, both buyers and sellers will be affected. Specifically, lower affordability obviously hurts buyers, and higher rates also keep potential sellers from listing their homes because they don’t want to give up the very favorable rates locked in over the last six years," Realtors Association CEO Tom Larson added.

The rising price of homes, combined with more expensive interest rates has driven housing affordability down.

“Housing affordability fell 5.5% over the past 12 months,” the report noted. “The combination of flat income growth and rising mortgage rates led to the erosion of housing affordability.”