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With so many potential homebuyers in Southeastern Wisconsin unable to find a home to purchase, the rental market has stayed red hot.
“This boom in demand for apartments and rental properties is tied to Millennials and Gen Zers who aren’t able to get into the home ownership market at the same level as prior generations,” says Andrew Hunt, director of Marquette University’s Center for Real Estate. “Millennials are now the largest generation. They were delayed in earnings potential because of the financial crisis, which also affected their ability to purchase a home. Many of them ended up staying home or moving back in with their families.”
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Now stymied by a scarcity of listings for single-family homes and even condos, they find themselves – still – making their homes in apartments.
Renters have also been relocating to places like the Milwaukee area because it is viewed as a more economical option in the ongoing remote work trend.
This combination of factors had the Midwest emerging as the hottest region for renting in 2023, with the Milwaukee area leading the way in the region and ranking as the country’s third-hottest apartment market overall, according to nationwide apartment listing service RentCafe. It found less than 5% of apartment units available at any given time and an astounding 70% of current renters opting to stay put.
Median Monthly Rental Rates
(February 2024)
Brookfield: $2,039
Pewaukee: $1,888
Lake Geneva: $1,550
Wauwatosa: $1,204
Kenosha: $1,192
Milwaukee: $1,165
Demand has been so high that most Milwaukee apartments only remained on the market for 33 days, with 14 renters competing for each available unit, according to RentCafe. The national averages for those figures in the 139 markets RentCafe studied were 38 and nine, respectively. Only Miami and Northern New Jersey had more competitive apartment markets than Milwaukee last year.
Multi-family construction in metro Milwaukee has been brisk – and focused almost entirely on apartments instead of condos. Major projects Downtown have attracted the most headlines, but development has been booming in the suburbs, too. The 231-unit Ruby at Brookfield Square opened in October. There’s also 118-unit Broadacre project in Oak Creek, and in February, plans were unveiled for a 38-apartment, mixed-used development in Franklin.
