Wisconsin Falls Below the National Average When it Comes to Condos as Part of the Broader Housing Market

Sunday, October 18th, 2026 -- 9:00 AM

(Royce Podeszwa, Wisconsin Public Radio) Wisconsin falls well below the national average when it comes to condos as part of the broader housing market, which puts homeownership further out of reach for many people.

According to Royce Podeszwa with Wisconsin Public Radio, condominiums often serve as a more affordable home for first-time buyers. They can also be an option for older adults to retain equity as they downsize from larger single-family homes.

Wisconsin’s median home price was $314,000 in August, according to the latest numbers from the Wisconsin Realtors Association. That’s a 50 percent increase over the past five years. The state housing market hasn’t kept up with growing demand for condos.

A new Wisconsin Policy Forum report found that condo production largely collapsed after the 2008 housing crisis and hasn’t recovered. Owner-occupied multifamily units like condos made up under 8 percent of the state’s total housing market in 2024, while the national average was over 12 percent, the report found.

Madison averaged 547 new condo units a year between 2004 and 2008, according to the report. But that average dropped to just 16 a year between 2021 and 2025. The story is similar in Milwaukee, where the average dropped from 309 units per year to about eight over the same period.

One exception is currently under construction in Milwaukee. Developer New Land Enterprises is building the luxury condo tower Zenith, with units selling for up to $3 million. Managing Director Tim Gokhman told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that their luxury condo project fills a particular niche in the market and is largely an “exception to the rule” of the struggling condo industry.

“What works well without some sort of intervention, some sort of subsidy, is the ultra-high end, and that’s what Zenith is,” he said. “We haven’t had a condo tower of any kind built for almost 20 years, so there is this really pent-up demand for a building like Zenith, but that’s a very small chunk of the market.”

Developers face federal requirements that condo projects sell at least half of their units before receiving financing. Meeting that threshold is possible, but it’s generally easier for builders to just focus on apartments instead, according to Andrea Trane, planning and development director for the city of La Crosse.

Trane said nearly all recent multi-family development in her city is for rental apartments rather than condos. She said developers are telling her the extra hurdles to secure financing for condos are the main reason they’re focusing on rentals, which she said don’t require 50 percent occupancy for financing and are still eligible for local tax increment financing incentives.

“People want to live (in new multi-family housing), but they also want to own,” Trane said. “They’re coming, they’re downsizing, or for whatever reason, they want to continue to have that equity.”

Trane said reducing occupancy requirements at the federal level or having state government draft an incentive for homeownership opportunities would go a long way toward boosting condo development.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.