June 30, 2022

Milwaukee Q1 Multifamily Market Insights: Vacancy reaches 20-year low, rents on the rise

Highlights:

After significant improvement throughout 2021, the Milwaukee multifamily market continued to strengthen at the beginning of this year. Vacancy ticked lower and rents advanced at a rapid clip.
Vacancy in Milwaukee ended the first quarter at 3.6 percent, down 10 basis points year to date. The rate has declined 120 basis points in the past 12 months.
Rent growth is gaining momentum; asking rents have advanced 12.3 percent year over year, reaching $1,274 per month as of the first quarter. Rents spiked 9 percent in 2021.
After investment activity nearly doubled in 2021, the pace of transactions has slowed in the first few months of 2022. While only a handful of properties have traded, prices have remained elevated. The median price to this point in 2022 is approximately $143,500 per unit, closely tracking the 2021 median price.