Milwaukee scrapes bottom in Urban Land Institute survey of national real estate investors

Milwaukee's future prospects are not generating enthusiasm among national real estate professionals, according to a survey of how real estate investors perceive the Milwaukee area, where it ranked near the bottom at 71st out of 75.

The survey in the Emerging Trends in Real Estate is a general reflection of how a national pool of real estate investors view greater Milwaukee. The Urban Land Institute, Washington, D.C., and an affiliate of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP compiled the report.

Anita Kramer, senior vice president of the Urban Land Institute's Center for Capital Markets and Real Estate, said Milwaukee's rank does not indicate investors are ignoring the market completely. However, national investors are more likely to look first at the higher ranking cities on the survey, she said.

"It is really from a national perspective, so it does not mean nothing is going on in Milwaukee or there are no investment opportunities," she said. "There is an understanding that in any one market there is going to be the great location."

Milwaukee's low ranking resulted from it being bogged down by the local homebuilding market. It ranked 56th nationwide for investment opportunities and 58th for development opportunities. However, it ranked dead last in homebuilding, scoring a 1.84 on a five-point scale among survey respondents.

The top five communities on the survey are Houston; Austin, Texas; San Francisco; Denver; and Dallas/Fort Worth. Those communities also experienced faster population growth than Milwaukee from 2010 to 2013.

"(Milwaukee's) urban center is among the slower growing," Kramer said. "It is growing. When people are looking broadly across the country the higher growth areas will, of course, attract their attention."

Reporter Sean Ryan covers commercial and residential real estate for the Milwaukee Business Journal and through the Real Estate Roundup blog on the website. He also covers construction, highways and public transit.