The Wisconsin REALTORS Association (WRA) reports that statewide home sales increased 5.8 percent in this year’s third quarter compared to the same period a year earlier. It marked the first increase since the recession began in late 2007. Sales climbed 9.4 percent in Milwaukee County and 6.8 percent for the four-county Milwaukee metro area as a whole. WRA Chairman John Flor remarks, “We are finally seeing signs of recovery in the housing market.” Driving the trend, Flor noted, were low mortgage rates and the U.S. government’s $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers. Capitol Hill lawmakers recently voted in favor of extending the credit through April 2010 and expanding it to include all buyers — a measure WRA officials said would benefit not just home sellers and buyers, but the economy as a whole. While Wisconsin home sales climbed in this year’s July-through-September stretch, the median home price in the state decreased 6.3 percent to $148,000 from the third quarter of 2008. WRA President William Malkasian reasons, “Over the past year we’ve seen a shift from higher priced homes to lower priced homes, so the median price naturally falls.”