Bikers on John Nolen for Ride the Drive.
City of Madison

2025 Housing Snapshot report published

posted 
Cover of the 2025 Housing Snapshot report showing an assortment of housing developments finished in the last year

The City of Madison’s Department of Planning, Community, and Economic Development has published its 2025 Housing Snapshot report, providing the latest insights into the city’s housing trends. 

The report updates data from the 2023 Housing Snapshot and also contains new metrics, data visualizations, and example households designed to provide a clearer picture of Madison’s current housing needs and to make the report easier to understand. 

The 2025 report finds progress has been made in producing more housing in Madison, leading to an improved rental vacancy rate, but housing demand still outpaces new supply as land and construction costs continue to increase rapidly. Those factors continue to limit housing choice across Madison, especially for low-income households. 

The latest Housing Snapshot report shows our efforts to create more housing in Madison are beginning to pay off. We are starting to move toward a healthier rental vacancy rate, and City incentives mean affordable homes are still being built, even as construction costs rise. There are many encouraging signs in this report, but we also need to work to maintain our momentum and address the inequities that still exist in our housing market.

—

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway

Some key takeaways from the 2025 Housing Snapshot include:

  • 53% Rent Their Homes
  • 47% Own Their Homes
  • 4.8% Stabilized Rental Vacancy Rate

    Healthy Vacancy Rate: 5-7%

  • 0.6% Owner-Occupied Vacancy Rate

    National Average: 1.1%

  • Homeownership costs are rising fasting than incomes

    High interest rates are making it increasingly difficult for Madisonians to become first-time homebuyers.

  • Construction costs continue to increase

    Costs of land and construction in the Madison area continue to rise faster than the Consumer Price Index, which is continuing to pull housing costs higher.

  • Many people are "renting down"

    Roughly 3 out of 4 renter households making over the median income rent housing that would be affordable to low- and moderate-income households, increasing pressure on the low to moderate end of the rental market. 

  • Housing cost burden disparities continue

    Nearly half of all Black households in Madison are housing cost-burdened, paying more than 30% of their monthly income on housing costs, while 30% of White households are housing cost-burdened.

The full 2025 Housing Snapshot report is available for anyone to download in a PDF format. For the first time, the report is also available in webpage format for easier viewing and sharing on smart phones and tablets. 

Download the PDF Version

View the Web Version

Departments:
Was this page helpful to you? * required