What 54961 homes actually cost, and why three sites publish three different numbers
RealtyTrac counts 191 properties sold in the zip over the trailing twelve months, at a median sale price of $267,608, with the overall observed range running $129,900 to $734,900 across 254 total properties. Homes.com’s live feed shows a similar $275,000 median list price. Movoto’s May 2026 snapshot, in contrast, put the median list price at $359,000, with days on market at 71, down 18% from the year before.
None of the three names a methodology, but the underlying data explains the gap. Active listings in any given month are a small, volatile sample. A handful of $500,000-plus acreage or waterfront listings entering the pool can drag a monthly median up by tens of thousands of dollars without the broader market moving at all.
| Metric | Value | As-of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median sale price (12-mo., 191 sales) | $267,608 | 2026 | RealtyTrac |
| Median list price (active IDX feed) | $275,000 | 2026 | Homes.com |
| Median list price (single-month snapshot) | $359,000 | May 2026 | Movoto |
| Days on market | 71 (down 18% year over year) | May 2026 | Movoto |
| Distress properties (foreclosure, pre-foreclosure, auction combined) | 10 of 254 (about 3.9%) | 2026 | RealtyTrac |
| Effective property tax rate, Waupaca County | 1.49% | Census ACS 2019–2023 | TaxByCounty |
A roughly 4-in-100 distress rate is low for a market this size. Foreclosure inventory is a minor factor in current pricing here, not a discount opportunity worth building a search strategy around.
Why do different real estate sites show different median prices for New London?Each site pulls from the same underlying MLS feed at a different moment and over a different window. A twelve-month, 191-sale figure smooths out the volatility that a single month’s active-listing pool can’t avoid, which is why the annual number tracks close to the live-feed median while a one-month snapshot can swing much higher when a few large parcels happen to be listed that month.
Waterfront, in-town, and rural acreage: three price bands under one zip
The $129,900–$734,900 range RealtyTrac reports isn’t one market. It’s at least three. A June 2025 market report shows the split in real listings: a 1.80-acre land parcel on Lima Street at $64,900, a 12.85-acre parcel on Bean City Road at $239,900, an in-town home on Smith Street at $335,000, and a 3,138-square-foot home on acreage in the Town of Liberty at $839,900.
| Property type | Observed price range | Typical lot | Key consideration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Land only | $64,900 to $239,900 | 1.8 to 12.85 acres | No structure on the parcel; add build or perc costs on top of the land price |
| In-town residential | $200,000 to $335,000 | Standard city lot | Older housing stock, closest to city utilities and the school district |
| Rural acreage with home | $450,000 to $839,900 | 3 to 5 acres | Outside city limits, in townships such as Liberty or Lebanon; township zoning and well/septic rules apply separately from city rules |
| Waterfront or riverfront | Up to $734,900 (RealtyTrac-reported ceiling) | Varies | Wolf and Embarrass River frontage; flood exposure below is required reading, not optional |
The Bean City Road and Lima Street listings sit at opposite ends of the land-only tier because they serve different buyers: a buildable, in-town-adjacent lot commands a premium over raw acreage priced for recreational or hunting use.
For an investor, the land and rural-acreage tiers are the ones worth tracking for yield. For someone buying a primary residence, the in-town tier is the one that actually compares to a national median-home-value figure.
What the listing sites don’t mention: the April 2026 flood
In April 2026, the Embarrass River at New London crested at 12.36 feet, above its previous record of 12.1 feet, and the Wolf River approached a near-historic high. Waupaca County and Governor Tony Evers declared a state of emergency, and the city ordered evacuations from low-lying areas.
Is flood insurance required for homes near the Wolf River in 54961?It depends on whether the specific parcel sits in a FEMA-mapped Special Flood Hazard Area; lenders require flood insurance on federally backed mortgages for parcels that do. New London has flooded from the Wolf and Embarrass rivers repeatedly since at least 1888, most recently at record levels in April 2026, so checking the parcel-specific FEMA flood zone before closing is worth doing even where insurance isn’t legally required.
TID districts and the property-tax number nobody publishes
New London currently lists four active or recently amended Tax Incremental Districts on its own project-plan page, TID #4 through TID #7, with TID #7’s plan proposed in 2024. A TID doesn’t change what an individual homeowner owes. It redirects the growth in tax revenue from new development inside the district toward the public infrastructure that enabled it, which matters more to an investor evaluating a commercial or development-stage parcel than to someone buying an existing single-family home.
What is a TID district, and does it affect property taxes here?A Tax Incremental District captures the added property-tax revenue from new development within its boundary and uses it to repay the public infrastructure built to enable that development, instead of adding it to the general city budget right away. It matters for land inside an active TID being considered for new construction, not for the tax bill on an existing home elsewhere in the city.
Waupaca County’s effective property tax rate of 1.49% against a median annual bill of $2,876 runs above the Wisconsin state average, with only Winnebago County running higher among its immediate neighbors. Wisconsin caps neither assessed-value growth nor the tax rate the way some states cap annual increases, so a rising assessment can raise the bill even without a rate change.
Is 54961 a buyer’s market or a seller’s market right now?
Days on market fell to 71 in May 2026, down 18% year over year, and distress inventory sits under 4% of total properties – both signals of steady demand rather than distressed oversupply.
Is 54961 a buyer’s market or a seller’s market right now?Falling days-on-market and low distress inventory point toward a seller-favorable market for typical in-town homes, while land and acreage listings, a larger share of total inventory here than in most zip codes, tend to sit longer and see more price flexibility.
Getting a live listing count
Nothing above substitutes for a live MLS feed. Inventory in a 254-property market changes daily, and these numbers are anchors for evaluating a specific listing at the point of decision, checked directly through an agent or a current IDX search.
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