Milwaukee has the highest housing price-to-income ratio among major metropolitan areas in the Midwest, as well as one of the lowest rates of new housing development.
That’s according to Moody’s Analytics data used in a recent New York Times analysis, which illustrates housing affordability challenges across the United States. The authors argue the entire country “needs to build more housing,” noting regional variations in home prices are the widest they’ve been in decades.
Wisconsin’s largest metro area stands as an outlier for both the Midwest region and other states bordering the region, as the only city with a price-to-income ratio above 5 for hundreds of miles in every direction.
Milwaukee’s ratio of 5.2 is based on its median home price of $421,900 and median household income of $81,300. Its average rate of new housing construction starts over the last decade was 17.9 per 1,000 households, well below the other Wisconsin metro areas spotlighted in the data.
By comparison, Madison’s price-to-income ratio wasn’t far behind at 5, with a median home price of $465,400 and median income of $93,700. But its annual housing starts rate was 61.2 per 1,000 households, more than three times the rate set by Milwaukee.
The Green Bay metro had a price-to-income ratio of 4, with a median home price of $335,900 and median income of $83,700. The city’s housing starts rate was 35.4.
While other Midwest metros like Madison have price-to-income ratios at 5 or below, Milwaukee is the only one to actually break into the above-5 category. The closest metro in the same range is Washington, DC, based on the analysis.
Still, other cities elsewhere in the country eclipse Milwaukee’s ratio. New York’s price-to-income ratio was 9.5; Kahului and Honolulu in Hawaii were at 11.7 and 10.8, respectively; and San Francisco was the highest in the country with a ratio of 12.4.
The latest monthly figures from the Wisconsin Realtors Association reinforce Milwaukee’s housing challenge, noting the state’s larger metro areas have the “tightest supply” of new homes at just 3.4 months.
But southeastern Wisconsin made up the largest share of Wisconsin home sales in April with 2,110, about 38% of the total for the month.
