Ask around any job trailer in Madison or Milwaukee and you'll hear plenty about apartments. You won't hear much about condos. There's a reason for that, and new numbers show just how lopsided things have gotten.
Wisconsin Public Radio reported on Oct. 13 that condo development in Wisconsin lags well behind the rest of the country. That leaves fewer affordable ways to own a home in a state where the median home price hit $314,000 in August, according to the Wisconsin Realtors Association. That's up 50% over five years.
The numbers
The story draws on a recent report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum, a nonpartisan research group. In a Sept. 23 column summarizing the work, the Forum said its review of city assessment records found condo production in the state's two biggest cities "remains at very low levels" 15 years after the Great Recession. The counts include both new construction and buildings converted to condos.
In Madison, an average of about 547 condo units were added each year from 2004 through 2008, the height of the boom. From 2021 to 2025, that fell to about 16 a year. Milwaukee went from about 309 a year to about eight.
Statewide, the Forum pointed to Census figures. More than 52,000 Wisconsinites, about 0.9% of the population, lived in owner-occupied homes in buildings with five or more units in 2024, compared with 1.6% nationally. The Forum also noted Wisconsin has more one- and two-person households than the national average, but a smaller share of them live in owner-occupied units in those buildings, 1.8% compared with 3.1% nationally. That gap hints at demand that isn't being met.
Why builders stick to rentals
Andrea Trane, planning and development director for the City of La Crosse, told WPR nearly all recent multifamily development in her city has been rental apartments. Developers tell her the extra hurdles to finance condos are the main reason.
As WPR explained, federal requirements say condo projects must sell at least half of their units before getting financing. Rentals don't face that 50% hurdle and can still qualify for local tax increment financing, Trane said.
"People want to live (in new multi-family housing), but they also want to own," Trane said. She said lowering federal occupancy requirements or a state incentive for homeownership would help a lot.
The Forum also pointed to construction defect liability. Developers and builders cite liability, along with financing, as a hurdle holding back condo production. The Forum suggested lawmakers could revisit state liability laws or focus on condo financing.
There is one big exception going up right now. New Land Enterprises is building Zenith, a luxury condo tower in Milwaukee with units selling for up to $3 million. Managing director Tim Gokhman told WPR's "Wisconsin Today" that the ultra-high end is "what works well without some sort of intervention, some sort of subsidy." He added, "We haven't had a condo tower of any kind built for almost 20 years," but called that "a very small chunk of the market." The Forum also noted developers have unveiled plans for at least two large condo projects in southeast Wisconsin in recent weeks.
Why it matters for Contractors
For general building contractors and trades, condos are a market that's been mostly shut for 15 years. Firms that came up after 2008 may never have built one. If lawmakers change the liability rules or financing gets easier, that work could come back, and the contractors ready for it will be the ones who get it.
The liability question hits home in particular. When defect claims are a real worry, builders and their insurers get cautious. Contractors who keep good records, document their work and stand behind quality control will be in a better spot if condo work returns, and less exposed if a claim comes later.
In the meantime, watch the high end. Projects like Zenith and the new proposals in southeast Wisconsin are where condo work exists today. They also show there are buyers out there: retirees downsizing, first-time buyers priced out of single-family homes, and people who want to own without mowing a lawn.
The question is whether anyone will build for them below the luxury tier. That probably depends more on what happens at the state Capitol than on any jobsite.