Milwaukee Office Market
Over the past four quarters, the market has experienced 316,780 square feet of negative absorption. Despite this substantial loss, the vacancy rate has only increased by 27 basis points, rising to 21.4% from 21.2% in Q1 2024. During the first quarter of 2025, the availability rate fell by 50 basis points to 26.1%, down from 26.6%. Since the third quarter of 2022, the vacancy rate has gradually increased from 20.23% to the current level of 21.4%. The first quarter of 2025 saw 319,000 square feet of leasing activity. Over the past four quarters, leasing activity totaled 1.25 million square feet—approximately 27% below the historical four-quarter average.
Milwaukee Industrial Market
This past quarter, the availability rate jumped to 6.9%, up from 6.0% at the end of 2024. The vacancy rate also increased to 4.6%, up from 3.7%. The market is currently recalibrating, and vacancy rates are expected to remain steady as demand comes into balance with new construction and existing availabilities. The construction pipeline continued to decline this past quarter, with 1.2 million square feet currently under construction—down from 2.5 million square feet reported in the third quarter of 2024—and still well below the 2019–2024 average of 3.3 million square feet Average asking rents continue to grow year over year. The current weighted average asking rent is $5.59 per square foot, representing a 2.2% increase over the fourth quarter of 2024.