New WRA CEO aims to help address housing shortage, improve local coordination

The new leader of the Wisconsin Realtors Association, Tom Larson, says the group aims to help address the state’s housing inventory shortage and improve coordination with local groups. 

WRA today is announcing Larson — who has spent 27 years with the organization — as president and CEO. He’s taking over for Michael Theo, who retired from the association at the end of 2023. 

In an interview yesterday, Larson said the group has only had four CEOs since being created in 1967, including him. For the past 13 years, he was the association’s executive vice president, handling lobbying, political efforts and legal services. 

“It’s a unique opportunity,” he told WisBusiness.com. “For me, it’s an organization that I’ve essentially grown up with … spent most of my professional life associated with the organization, working in various roles in legal and advocacy. To be given the opportunity to lead the organization is truly an honor and a dream come true.” 

Larson highlighted Wisconsin’s statewide housing inventory shortage, noting it affects urban and rural parts of the state alike. He said that addressing that challenge with more housing will be a primary focus for WRA, along with forging stronger partnerships with local realtor organizations around Wisconsin. 

“How do we do things better, how do we do things more efficiently?” he said. “How do we partner with our various local associations around the state, and figure out how we share services to reallocate resources to better service the members. That’s going to be a top priority going forward.” 

The housing shortage results from a “perfect storm” of supply and demand problems, according to Larson, who noted the Baby Boomer generation and younger Millennials are competing for housing. He argues new home construction over the past decade hasn’t kept up with demand, and rising interest rates have discouraged many potential homebuyers from leaving their current residence. 

“People who’ve locked in the interest rates below 3.5% are not able or interested to sell their homes at this time, because interest rates now are 6.5%, so housing would be much less affordable for them if they did try to sell,” he said. 

Still, he added interest rates have seen some recent declines and is hoping that trend continues. 

“The further they go down, the more inventory we expect to be on the market,” he said. 

Larson also praised the work and legacy of Theo, his immediate predecessor, as well as the group’s prior leader, Bill Malkasian. 

“I have learned from two of the best, and I’m going to continue a lot of the great things that they’ve put in place in the WRA, and also bring my own strengths,” he said.

See more from the association here: https://www.wra.org/ 

See the announcement: https://www.wisbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/WRA-Larson-Release.pdf 

Read a farewell message from Theo: https://www.wra.org/WREM/Nov23/PresidentMessage/ 

–By Alex Moe