While home prices are flattening or falling across most of the United States, Milwaukee has emerged as a rare housing market outlier.
Data showed that home prices in the Wisconsin city rose 5.7 percent per square foot over the past year, even as supply remained relatively tight.
Inventory in the metro increased by just 5.1 percent year over year, far below the national pace, helping keep competition strong and prices elevated.
Jake Krimmel, senior economist at Realtor.com, which provided the figures, said: ‘Milwaukee defied these national trends, remaining hot throughout the year.’
He added: ‘Milwaukee and other Wisconsin geos have remained some of the hottest markets throughout 2025, with limited supply and resilient demand.’
The strength of the city’s housing market stands in sharp contrast to national trends, where prices are easing and listings are piling up.
The national median list price fell to $400,000 in December, down 0.6 percent from a year earlier, as inventory rose for the 26th straight month.
Krimmel said: ‘Generally speaking, the story of 2025 was a slowing market moving in a more buyer-friendly direction, with homes lingering longer and prices flat to down.’
The expert added that Milwaukee has benefited from buyers being pushed ‘down-market’ by high mortgage rates, driving demand toward more affordable cities that still offer strong job prospects and urban amenities.
Milwaukee is defying the national housing slowdown
Local real estate agent Justin Hoffmann said Milwaukee’s combination of affordability and livability continues to draw buyers who have been priced out elsewhere.
‘Compared to larger metros like Chicago or Minneapolis, buyers are able to afford more square footage and stretch their budget further, which is especially attractive to first-time buyers, young families, and professionals,’ Hoffmann said.
Hoffmann added that Milwaukee offers ‘the energy and amenities of a major city without the congestion, stress, and long commutes,’ while maintaining a growing economy across finance, manufacturing, tech, and health care.
Another Milwaukee broker said the city’s relative stability has helped insulate it from the boom-and-bust swings hitting other markets.
‘I believe the reason Milwaukee real estate pricing continues to stay strong is because we tend to be a more balanced state,’ broker Jeff Niedfeldt told the Daily Mail.
‘We don’t get swept up in the fear or excitement as much as other areas. We have steady business investment and a consistent renter base that is looking for the stability of home ownership. In short we have more balance,’ said Niedfeldt, who works at Nied Luxury & Lakefront Homes.
Realtor.com economists categorized Milwaukee as a national ‘outlier’ market, meaning local conditions outweigh broader regional or national trends.
Milwaukee is not the only outlier. Grand Rapids, Michigan, leads the country, with prices up 5.9 percent over the past year to $397,000.
By comparison, cities like Oklahoma City closely tracked national averages and reflected the broader cooling seen across the US housing market.
Milwaukee rose 5.7 percent per square foot over the past year (stock image)
That slowdown is now widespread, with more than half of the country’s 50 largest metro areas posting year-over-year price declines, including some of the biggest pandemic boomtowns, where values have fallen sharply.
Lennar, the country’s second-largest homebuilder, slashed prices by 10 percent as buyer demand dried up, a move that analysts say could foreshadow broader declines across the nation’s existing housing stock.
Unlike homeowners who can pull listings and wait, builders are forced to sell, often at steep discounts, when homes sit unsold, increasing pressure across the market heading into 2026.
