MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) - According to Realtor.com, rental vacancy in Milwaukee increased from 4.9% in 2024 to 10.8% in 2025. 

“It was a big construction wave in 2019 to 2024 and there’s more to rent than people,” Milwaukee realtor Tristaca Patrick-Yarbrough said.  

Patrick-Yarbrough says that despite high rent costs, the current market could favor renters. 

“It is a renter's market,” Patrick-Yarbrough said. “If you can’t afford then go in with the mindset to say 'hey, I need a rent concession', one month two months free, use it to your leverage, it’s plenty out there.” 

Some Milwaukee residents have turned into buyers because of rent prices continuing to go up. 

"Everything is crazy expensive,” Milwaukee resident Mckenna Kopesky said. “I didn’t think that’s what I wanted at the time and I’m really glad I did because rent just kept going up by a crazy percentage every year.”

Patrick-Yarbrough has an explanation for the jump in vacancies. 

“Landlords put that you have to have a 600-credit score or you must have 3 times the rent, that is where for me, being in property management, where I find the huge barrier.” Patrick-Yarbrough said. 

Patrick-Yarbrough says the resources are out there for people to use, so that they can take advantage of this current market. 

“If we stay the same it’s gonna be the same but we as a community have to act,” Patrick-Yarbrough said.