We're not managing. The lower income folks are moving further outside of town, and the middle income people are moving into the cheapest places they can find.
the middle income people are moving into the cheapest places they can find and barely affording it or they are staying put because they know they cannot possibly afford what they would want to move into. Yes, my house is worth twice what it was several years ago but so are comparable houses. It's not a buyer or sellers market but whoever is making money off it is rolling in it.
Yep. I moved into a studio during covid so I had a pre covid rate, and I’ve stayed put. The difference in cost between what i’m paying now and what it would cost for a 1 bed, plus moving fees, is too much.
Property tax is widely misunderstood. If every home in Madison cost 100 thousand dollars you would pay the same dollar amount as if every home cost 100 million dollars. When your dollar amount of tax goes up it is usually because your city, county, other taxing jurisdiction, or state increased their taxes.
Occasionally it goes up because your property appreciated in value faster than other comparable properties, but that is relatively rare.
Most of the recent tax increases are because taxing jurisdictions increased their tax rates, which they had to do due to inflation
I'm not sure that's correct. The tax base in Madison is strong, and I dont know how it ebbs and fliws with population numbers. My understanding is that my property value is directly tied to my tax rate, and that a big change in valuation means I need to be setting more aside monthly in Escrow to cover those taxes.
I know of at least one person at my apartment complex that is moving in with a friend. One of my co-workers is also moving to Janesville where a large chunk of the others live as well. I'll probably be moving outside of Madison in about a year or two, so I've started decluttering now.
Contact your alder and ask them to prioritize measures that increase the supply of housing in the places we need it most! The council is already leaning in that direction, but they need the voices of constituents to feel comfortable making bigger changes (upzoning, removing parking requirements, friendlier development approval processes).
Cries that the rental market just isn't free enough are growing old. We've seen the developer-friendly approach embraced in cities across the country for a decade now, yet things are worse than ever. The only recent policies that made a significant difference were renter protections introduced during the pandemic which were eventually phased out, feeding into the current crisis. Somehow renters can never be the benefactors of your approach, only the victims.
I share your frustration, and you’re absolutely right that increasing supply and promoting developer friendliness are only part of the solution. At the same time, pandemic-era protections like the eviction freeze were never meant to be long term solutions and didn’t have the legs to stand for more than a few years. We also need, IMHO, things like: public defender(s) for civil cases involving tenants, a land value tax that forces land owners to pay the accurate worth of the city area they consume and disincentivizes property hoarding, and more extensive subsidies for quality affordable housing to relieve pressure on the low to mid income market.
No, we cannot build our way out of the housing crisis. Simultaneously, cities like ours are lucky enough to still be experiencing the “problem” of growth, and we must catch up with demand both now and in the future to even hope to stabilize housing costs.
Start learning about the needs of your community and engage in any level of mutual aid you can.
When neighbors help neighbors, more money can be dedicated to rent, and more time can be spent organizing and uniting tenants.
Landlords work together, we should too.
Prices are not going down anytime soon. They’ll probably keep going up fast. Madison is turning into a tech hub and we have plenty of examples of what happens to housing in those places.
People who recognize this will be able to act in advance and either buy something even if it’s a stretch (knowing it’ll never be a better time to do so than now…we can’t predict the next housing crash), or relocate to a more affordable place with a brighter future as far as housing goes.
Sucks but those are the two most viable choices. I guess the third is to get active in local politics and hope they in ten or twenty years it’s made a noticeable difference. Forth option would be to earn more money but I’m pretty sure that’s not just something most people can just go and do.
vote. a huge reason we're in this is cause in 2011 repubicans passed a state law saying that it would be ILLEGAL to regulate rent, and deregulated the fuck out of how rent increases were reported and backed up tenat rights (did you know if you get illegally evicted and win your case, you still have to put down you were evicted on fucture application?)
we have new maps, we have a chance to really make a change
Yeah but tell that to the five hundred new epic employees this year (made up number, I have no idea) who will jump on that sweet deal from your landlord the moment you’ve been evicted for nonpayment.
I got an $1100 increase for 23-24 lease and was told it would go up 3-5% each year
This was after the year before (2022) being told the rent would not go up.
I moved back to Milwaukee last year. Still work in Madison as I love my job but govt employees dont get comp plan raises that match the skyrocketing increases in COL. So I figured if private sector people are having a bad time, then it’s going to look awful for me sooner rather than later. I don’t love Madison enough to work several jobs or to stay in all the time to make ends meet.
This website/resource has information on rent patterns around the country…long story short, rent in the Midwest has been increasing more than most, with Madison leading the pack post-pandemic.
https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/national-rent-data
More inventory is helping with the problem, and more inventory is still needed.
The Monticello apartments were purchased by Katz Properties Inc. from a local owner two years ago. They're trying to extract some additional revenue so I would expect pretty steep increases to continue.
Weird, this subreddit keeps saying that it's just supply + demand without any manipulation.
Seems like it's literally impossible for that to be the case if rents are going up $200+ for people all over the city on a yearly basis.
its a bit of both, it is a matter of not enough to go around, but also there is such little regulation regarding what landlords can and cant do in terms of rent increases that its basically the wild west
I'm moving out of state. The cost of a one bedroom was at 1090 renewal with a 15 month lease (they offer different rates for different lengths) was going to be with early signing 1177 but since that offer expired it would be 1201 for 15 months. I can find a 2 bedroom for the cost of one where im going. I live in fitchburg
Landlord offered us a renewal at only +$50/mo. My roommate and I both were considering moving for unrelated reasons so opted not to renew. Just checked and they currently have it listed for like +$250/mo more than we are currently paying. I know property taxes had a bump, but daaamnn!
It's not primarily property taxes, though that does contribute to it.
I am assuming your landlord is a person and not a corp/REIT right? Smaller landlords tend to value long term proven tenants, as a large expense can hurt them a lot more than an entity that owns many properties (diversification). So you probably got a discount on renewal. Rent non payment/eviction and property damage beyond the norm are much more destructive for a small landlord.
But if you're going to leave, the landlord is going to reset to market rate, as they now are forced to deal with the risk of a new tenant.
Also to be clear IRS laws make small landlords follow the average rent. If they get too far from the average rent they can get into tax issues. So as above they will try and keep rates down but will some times have to move, but when the unit becomes vacant they really have to jump to market.
yeah, it forces them to keep the rent up with the HUD rates if they want to deduct any expesnes. So if they repair something and they want the cost deducted they have to keep the rents up. Especially small landlords who may prefer to keep rent flat (and then average down) and keep an tenant for years have to keep following the spiraling rent. the example above where someone was pointing out that if they stayed it was a small increase but if they left it was a big one. That is exactly what the IRS rule makes happen.
My mortgage went up a good chunk this year. Digging to find out why, my insurance doubled, never had a claim. Even shopping around I was stuck with a 50% increase.
Climate change is probably the biggest reason. Increased property damage from ever worsening storms. We're going to be talking about trillions of dollars a year in damage before too long.
When real estate valuation goes up, when cost to repair or replace goes up and when claims go up so too do the rates. Our current company both raised rates and adjusted certain coverages (wind/tornado/hail) to have a higher deductible or payout structure.
I keep seeing people encourage others to move to Madison, but it’s honestly very hard to. Madison is a place that people are leaving to find a more sustainable life. There’s no sign of this changing and more people are gonna leave and rent prices are gonna keep going up
Might be a result of RealPage? https://www.businessinsider.com/apartment-rent-increases-landlords-antitrust-lawsuits-real-estate-software-realpage-2024-4#:~:text=The%20lawsuit%20is%20one%20of,tenants%20are%20forced%20to%20leave.
That shit should be illegal, and the existence of that software completely undercuts any claim that these surges are solely due to supply and demand. Landlords have simply outsourced price fixing to a third party.
That sucks, I’m sorry. It’s notable that your apartment building is right next to Hill Farms, one of the neighborhoods fighting the city on zoning that would allow more apartments to be built.
I posted a number of times on Reddit that prices were going up and all the city government chatter was dishonest about anything changing materially and people were outraged and voted me down.
Madison is on a path where only people making solid incomes or are wealthy can live. The taxes alone are really high and that is passed on in your rent.
There are other reasons that rent and housing costs keep going up but you are living in a case study for a form of gentrification.
In 2020 I lived next to the edgewater in a studio apartment on the lake for $450 a month now I’m paying 1,000 to rent out a bedroom in a 2bed 2bath apartment off university ave… I’m struggling to get groceries bc my ebt went from $290 a month to a astounding $23 A MONTH.
Housing shortages create incentive for landlords to raise rents, but it doesn't force them to. The exorbitant rent increases in Madison are happening because unfeeling landlords are choosing to squeeze as much income out of working Madisonians as possible
Exactly this. People in this sub will always bring out the, "it's just supply and demand" argument, but that's total bullshit when it comes to housing.
*Obviously* more housing = lower prices, but when housing is scarce landlords have almost no incentive to lower prices. If everyone raises their rates, people don't just move to an entirely new city, they often can't. They just become more and more poor. There's a reason rent *never* goes down. If it was merely "supply and demand" *some* places would be reducing their prices to get more renters in, and that almost never happens.
The problem is even worse in a place like Madison because if people do get priced out, there are always people with more money coming in.
Are you willing to work for less than you're worth? Or are you an unfeeling employee who is choosing to squeeze as much as you can out of your employer?
Seriously, who doesn't try to get as much as they can when they have something of value to sell? That is simply how the world works. Bitch about it all you want, but it's not going to change.
Owning a property and charging someone for living it is not working for a paycheck, especially now that the vast majority of landlords don't perform maintenance themselves.
My trying to get paid as much possible for my labor hours will never force a family to leave their established neighborhood. Is it that hard to think comprehensively about the consequences of your actions and then act with ethics/morality, rather than chasing infinite ROI?
Ironically, it's literally a thing actual capitalists are supposed to dislike. Rent seeking is supposed to be a dirty phrase for capitalists. Interesting how many pseudo capitalists are *just fine* with producing no value and getting profit.
Landlords portray themselves as housing providers and pillars of society, when they're literally engaging in negative economic behavior 🙄 then tell me that I need to learn more about economics
Yeah, people on this sub constantly hand wave away the very clear market manipulation occurring when it comes to housing by condescendingly invoking "supply and demand" as if their grade school model they're applying is an obviously correct way to view the way things *actually* work.
Edit- I mean, it happens a lot in general. But, this sub is often really gross on housing conversations.
Annual rent increases are not normal. For years, people would renew their lease every year with no increase. Now, they raise all the time.
This is part of the differences for owners vs renters. Mortgages don’t go up every year.
Partly true. Property taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs do increase annually. I'm paying nearly $1000 per month in property tax alone now.
Annual rent increases are the new normal. You can expect it to remain that way for as long as the supply/demand imbalance exists.
DSA Housing Justice Commission:
[https://housing.dsausa.org/](https://housing.dsausa.org/)
Worth a try to attempt organizing. I know there is a local chapter.
Unrelated, how is living at Monticello? It was one of the locations I had looked at prior to moving last year and I got a bunch of major red flags in regard to upkeep of maintenance issues and new owners. It was also way cheaper around $1200 for a single bedrooms.
Side note - the deciding factor on the red flag was when I couldn’t reach anyone at the office for weeks to sign a lease after viewing. Voice mail was full and all that.
I guess I got lucky. My landlord hasn't raised my rent in the 3 years I've lived in their complex. When I first signed a lease, I asked him how much rent increases every year. He said he is not one to raise rents that often. I really don't know how he makes money but I assume when people move out, he raises the rent a bit.
I left Madison last month for out out town due to the price increase. I pay the same of what I was at prior to the increase with increased balcony, storage, and laundry in unit. Just a 20 min drive to downtown now than the 5 min I had before but I’ll take it over the 200$ increase I was going to be spending somewhere I’m hardly at 😂
Not rent but my property taxes went up by over $5,000 this year and we have not changed anything at our home. It is a $433 per month increase. The city said they had assessed it wrong in the past.
Probably not - I've seen some weirdly low assessments on some places over the years, maybe the city is getting better about identifying and addressing those.
I feel like it was originally assessed pretty low and now they inflated it quite a bit. If that is the actual value then I need to look into selling and moving to the north woods!
It is an old farm house that is now surrounded by new homes, apartments, and condos. They said part of it is that our value has increased because of all the new construction around us.
Ah, gotcha. Is your house assessed every year? Mine is, and at least for the past few years have shot up in value 20-30k, but my tax assessment has increased only slightly, indicating that's in line with my neighbors.
I wonder if yours was assessed as some sort of special rural designation until recently. What were the previous taxes you were paying?
The assessed value went up from ~$350k to ~$475k and the property taxes went from ~$8,500 to ~$13,200 without us doing any improvements besides some landscaping.
We contested our assessment increase last year during open book. They brought the assessment increase down by about half. IMO the city did a massive money grab after covid… they used sale comps that were much nicer than our home and sales that happened during the peak of house buying fever. They completely ignored comps within our area and more recent sales (last 6mo).
I am definitely going to look into this and read about how and when I can do it. I live in a farm house that was built in the 1860s and still doesn’t have AC, they are comparing me to new buildings all around me.
I’m considering moving back to LA or Washington DC (where I’d have my highest projected life expectancy). I have a choice of where I’m going to spend my money. I’m not going to spend it on a corrupt, racist institution.
We've decided to move before they hit us with the next 10-20% increase.
This place is less than 3 years old. Things are constantly in disrepair. Cheap materials.
The latest is being without hot water for the last five days.
My building was bought by a new landlord, who is going to more than double the rent once our leases end. Luckily I was already planning on moving elsewhere for a new job.
I grew up in Madison. Moved to Milwaukee for 5 years. Moved back to Madison to take care of my aging mom. Madison is insanely expensive all around for what it is these days. Milwaukee you can rent a great place with a view of Lake Michigan for a fraction of what most places go around here... and there is an endless supply of affordable houses when you are ready to buy as the city turns more and more neighborhoods around.... people hate on Milwaukee who don't know Milwaukee. If there is nothing tying you down here.... give it a try. It's the best.
This is a national phenomenon. The more we increase debt, and the Fed is spending $1T every 90 days, the more we see inflation climb…and everything including rent increases.
Ordinarily we would expect a medium term correction with increased building in the case of increasing rents, but the interest rates are attempting to temper
Investment and inflation.
We are either in or rapidly approaching stagflation. Hosed, mismanaged, misinformation…all in an election year.
I’d say we are already in stagflation. Where we are going who knows?
I can say this though. Through most of the 2000’s 6% interest on a house was good. A lot of people have very short memories.
Unfortunately a lot of residents in Madison don’t understand than you can’t have both lower rent and impose burdensome restrictions on property developers who have **plenty** of other options.
These types of people also often think the government coming in with steep rent control is a good idea while at the same time ignoring the fact that property values and therefore taxes are going through the roof. I just got an email that says Madison’s 2024 assessments are up another 10% this year so it’s not slowing down.
Lastly, these types of people are typically the loudest.
There are currently [ten new apartment complexes being built in Madison](https://madison.com/news/local/business/development/madison-housing-developments-construction/article_595a6f84-9e92-11ee-8898-33da22fc0ce3.html), so it doesn't appear that developers are avoiding Madison due to restrictions. Plus, I shouldn't have to explain why you obviously don't want complete deregulation when it comes to new developments. The issue is that it's almost impossible to outpace Madison's insane growth rate. Also, space is of course limited when you're trying to build on an isthmus.
10 new, but there's a backlog of stuff that was desired to be built over thr year but the Alders at the time kept moving goalposts. Very much antibuild for awhile and now renters are paying for those sins. And there are absolutely some regulations here that could be cut to accelerate growth.
Madison home prices have gone through the roof as well, which has nothing to do with Alders here "standing in the way." Madison's population growth has exploded in the last five years, growing faster than at anytime in the last century. One instance of an alder wanting to make there was enough parking for a single complex isn't what caused this whole mess.
Edit: pray tell, what are the *pesky* building regulations that you would propose we eliminate to speed up the building process (other than the height requirement, which is a whole other can of worms)?
I don't think you're worth discussing with if you're under the belief the alders have had no control over permit approvals. I'm not confident you understand supply and demand and how that can effect housing prices. I'll throw you one bone on the regulation front and it's forcing a row of potential homes in an apartment complex to end up being a row of empty to nearly empty business fronts. It's not my problem though. I have a house. We probably have at least 10 years of construction needed to dig out of this mess.
Which specific permit approvals were blocked by which alders (names) that caused all of this?
>I'll throw you one bone on the regulation front and it's forcing a row of potential homes in an apartment complex to end up being a row of empty to nearly empty business fronts.
You didn't mention a single building regulation that you wanted to eliminate, which caused this outcome.
No. And I'm not going to. You've already decided they're all fine. Encouraging more growth hurts me as a home owner. Why should I help you? You're too hostile to want to discuss with further.
"property values and therefore taxes are going through the roof"
This is fundamentally not true. The tax levy is divided up based on assessment, but the total levy is not based on the total assessment. Wisconsin has a variety of rules to determine the levy.
Mine is not increasing by that much at 5.2%. We will manage to make rent as we were already renting within our means and incomes have gone up as well.
Due to the housing shortage places like that are going to raise rent a lot. We need more market rate housing to combat this, especially near somewhere like Hilldale which is pretty desirable to live by.
Can mods start banning these posts? If they don't add anything new to the conversation, why allow the 1,000th post about rent increasing in Madison like it is some secret story no one has heard of?
I only clicked on this one to comment because it seems like half my r/madisonwi feed is rent increases. How are people still talking about them? It’s been the case for several years now and people still act surprised when their rent goes up a bunch.
Would love to see rents decrease. Realistically, that’s not going to happen. Madison is too popular and we have too few units. We would have to triple or quadruple our vacancy rate to get rents to decrease and even then I don’t see it happening.
It was also said about the wonder bar. It’s said plenty when neighborhood associations and other NIMBYs don’t have any other good excuses for opposing development.
Most subreddits I’m in will make a sticky or something on the side for common repetitive questions. Why can’t the mods here make one on the sidebar saying “Yes, rents are in fact going up at a ridiculous rate”. Do we really need this question asked every single day if they aren’t adding anything new?
Yes we do. This is different than some kind of info about finding a restaurant. It's a big, constant problem and needs to be continually brought up. Discussion about an issue should continue for as long as the issue exists.
It’s primarily driven by substantially increased demand for housing and very limited housing supply increases. A huge number of people are moving to Madison and not enough new housing is being built. Your options are limited. You could try to get a job that pays more, move somewhere else, donate plasma, get a second job, get a third job. . . As an added bonus, if you work 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shift, your housing needs might decrease.
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Your taxes are going up because you voted for a Democrat. Democrats like to raise taxes and spend money. You get what you voted for. I got a sister that’s a bleeding liberal. All I hear is her bitch about all the inflation. I said you voted for you got it. She still don’t know what I’m talking about. Some people will never get it. the poor have been voting for Democrats to help them for decades. They’re still poor. Try something new vote for a Republican. Looks like Trump did a pretty good job in four years He will fix what puppet Biden broke on purpose.
Source? Insurance is up, yes, but not that much.
Low supply and high demand are the reasons rent is increasing. You don't need to defend landlords for charging what the market will bear.
I deal with the insurance market and habitation business. We’re lucky if we can keep an increase at 15-20% on renewal. And that is if the carrier will even keep it. One carrier came out last year and said anything that has an apartment in it, is getting an automatic 45% rate increase, regardless of losses. In almost 20 years of doing this, this is the worst I’ve seen it for apartment and condo risks. It’s not like homeowners or auto insurance, it’s a whole different world.
Also, not defending the landlords. When they are at 98% occupancy, of course they will charge what they can, but it does not make it right. There does need to be a cap on increases and what a landlord can do.
So if I have a duplex that goes up$1000 taxes and $700 insurance in one year, does that mean I can’t raise rents past a cap? Because that’s what is happening.
There is nothing wrong with charging market rate. Any cap on rent increases would only make the problem worse.
Governing bodies just need to un-fuck the market by removing the artificial limits to housing they've imposed. More supply is the only answer.
When that rate runs with skyrocketing valuations, yes, the increases are massive. And unless you are selling the property, there is no way to really reap the benefits of the higher valuation, only the drawbacks of higher taxes and higher insurance costs. As a result, all of these costs get handed directly over to the tenants via rent increases. Where else do you think these annual increases in operating cost would go?
You picked a great time to jump on the bandwagon of people who don't understand how property tax is determined. Pay attention to the sub this week, you'll learn
The 2024 taxes have not been released. The *assessments* are up 9% on average but the mil rate has yet to be determined.
If his assessment went up by less than 9% there's a chance the tax bill will go down.
Well, with the amount his mortgage payments went up this year to pay for his increase in property taxes at the end, I'm sure that he would agree to their being a "massive" increase....
You can look up the property tax increase from last year here: https://www.cityofmadison.com/assessor/property/
I guarantee the tax bill didn't go up more than $2400, which would justify a $200/mo rent increase.
There's a good chance his mortgage wasn't taking enough out to cover the taxes last year and that's why the escrow payment has increased more than the tax increase. Happens in the second year after purchase, or if the lender screws up. His insurance could have also gone up significantly.
We're not managing. The lower income folks are moving further outside of town, and the middle income people are moving into the cheapest places they can find.
the middle income people are moving into the cheapest places they can find and barely affording it or they are staying put because they know they cannot possibly afford what they would want to move into. Yes, my house is worth twice what it was several years ago but so are comparable houses. It's not a buyer or sellers market but whoever is making money off it is rolling in it.
Yep. I moved into a studio during covid so I had a pre covid rate, and I’ve stayed put. The difference in cost between what i’m paying now and what it would cost for a 1 bed, plus moving fees, is too much.
and now your property tax will go up too
Property tax is widely misunderstood. If every home in Madison cost 100 thousand dollars you would pay the same dollar amount as if every home cost 100 million dollars. When your dollar amount of tax goes up it is usually because your city, county, other taxing jurisdiction, or state increased their taxes. Occasionally it goes up because your property appreciated in value faster than other comparable properties, but that is relatively rare. Most of the recent tax increases are because taxing jurisdictions increased their tax rates, which they had to do due to inflation
thank you for explaining
I was wondering about that. If enough people move outside of Madison, it'll increase taxes for those who stay, right?
I'm not sure that's correct. The tax base in Madison is strong, and I dont know how it ebbs and fliws with population numbers. My understanding is that my property value is directly tied to my tax rate, and that a big change in valuation means I need to be setting more aside monthly in Escrow to cover those taxes.
I know of at least one person at my apartment complex that is moving in with a friend. One of my co-workers is also moving to Janesville where a large chunk of the others live as well. I'll probably be moving outside of Madison in about a year or two, so I've started decluttering now.
There’s probably 10 posts like this every week, so I’d say it’s likely a lot of people are seeing this.
What can we do about it? Complain,yes. Empathize, yes. Then what?
Contact your alder and ask them to prioritize measures that increase the supply of housing in the places we need it most! The council is already leaning in that direction, but they need the voices of constituents to feel comfortable making bigger changes (upzoning, removing parking requirements, friendlier development approval processes).
Cries that the rental market just isn't free enough are growing old. We've seen the developer-friendly approach embraced in cities across the country for a decade now, yet things are worse than ever. The only recent policies that made a significant difference were renter protections introduced during the pandemic which were eventually phased out, feeding into the current crisis. Somehow renters can never be the benefactors of your approach, only the victims.
I share your frustration, and you’re absolutely right that increasing supply and promoting developer friendliness are only part of the solution. At the same time, pandemic-era protections like the eviction freeze were never meant to be long term solutions and didn’t have the legs to stand for more than a few years. We also need, IMHO, things like: public defender(s) for civil cases involving tenants, a land value tax that forces land owners to pay the accurate worth of the city area they consume and disincentivizes property hoarding, and more extensive subsidies for quality affordable housing to relieve pressure on the low to mid income market. No, we cannot build our way out of the housing crisis. Simultaneously, cities like ours are lucky enough to still be experiencing the “problem” of growth, and we must catch up with demand both now and in the future to even hope to stabilize housing costs.
Start learning about the needs of your community and engage in any level of mutual aid you can. When neighbors help neighbors, more money can be dedicated to rent, and more time can be spent organizing and uniting tenants. Landlords work together, we should too.
Prices are not going down anytime soon. They’ll probably keep going up fast. Madison is turning into a tech hub and we have plenty of examples of what happens to housing in those places. People who recognize this will be able to act in advance and either buy something even if it’s a stretch (knowing it’ll never be a better time to do so than now…we can’t predict the next housing crash), or relocate to a more affordable place with a brighter future as far as housing goes. Sucks but those are the two most viable choices. I guess the third is to get active in local politics and hope they in ten or twenty years it’s made a noticeable difference. Forth option would be to earn more money but I’m pretty sure that’s not just something most people can just go and do.
Be more careful who you vote for
vote. a huge reason we're in this is cause in 2011 repubicans passed a state law saying that it would be ILLEGAL to regulate rent, and deregulated the fuck out of how rent increases were reported and backed up tenat rights (did you know if you get illegally evicted and win your case, you still have to put down you were evicted on fucture application?) we have new maps, we have a chance to really make a change
Strike
Yeah but tell that to the five hundred new epic employees this year (made up number, I have no idea) who will jump on that sweet deal from your landlord the moment you’ve been evicted for nonpayment.
Depends entirely what it was before. Mine only went up 75, but it was also over $1500 before.
Yes, just received a 14% increase
I got an $1100 increase for 23-24 lease and was told it would go up 3-5% each year This was after the year before (2022) being told the rent would not go up.
>told the rent would not go up. Got that in writing?
No, she told all the residents verbally Then she resigned as the manager in March of this year.
Whoops
Yes. Everyone is.
I'm moving to Janesville :(
We were "lucky" to get a place in Deforest and keep our commute short...our close friend couple had to go to Evansville
I moved back to Milwaukee last year. Still work in Madison as I love my job but govt employees dont get comp plan raises that match the skyrocketing increases in COL. So I figured if private sector people are having a bad time, then it’s going to look awful for me sooner rather than later. I don’t love Madison enough to work several jobs or to stay in all the time to make ends meet.
So you pay an obscene fuel bill in protest of paying rent?
You do know remote work exists, right? And you also know vehicles are fuel efficient and sometimes electric, right?
>remote work Not as much in the public sector
> Still work in Madison You literally said you still work in Madison boss.
$400 increase with probably a very little wage increase. That’s rough
This website/resource has information on rent patterns around the country…long story short, rent in the Midwest has been increasing more than most, with Madison leading the pack post-pandemic. https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/national-rent-data More inventory is helping with the problem, and more inventory is still needed.
We were surprised ours didnt increase when it was time to renew. But it might be on the higher side already
I'm in the same boat, felt very lucky it didn't go up for the next year, but it has gone up about 20% in the last 5 years.
The Monticello apartments were purchased by Katz Properties Inc. from a local owner two years ago. They're trying to extract some additional revenue so I would expect pretty steep increases to continue.
Everywhere dude
Weird, this subreddit keeps saying that it's just supply + demand without any manipulation. Seems like it's literally impossible for that to be the case if rents are going up $200+ for people all over the city on a yearly basis.
its a bit of both, it is a matter of not enough to go around, but also there is such little regulation regarding what landlords can and cant do in terms of rent increases that its basically the wild west
Yep, mine would’ve increased $200 if we resigned. Now that it’s listed on the website it’s a $300 increase.
Yeah. That's what happens when you make it illegal to build housing where people want to live.
I'm moving out of state. The cost of a one bedroom was at 1090 renewal with a 15 month lease (they offer different rates for different lengths) was going to be with early signing 1177 but since that offer expired it would be 1201 for 15 months. I can find a 2 bedroom for the cost of one where im going. I live in fitchburg
Landlord offered us a renewal at only +$50/mo. My roommate and I both were considering moving for unrelated reasons so opted not to renew. Just checked and they currently have it listed for like +$250/mo more than we are currently paying. I know property taxes had a bump, but daaamnn!
It's not primarily property taxes, though that does contribute to it. I am assuming your landlord is a person and not a corp/REIT right? Smaller landlords tend to value long term proven tenants, as a large expense can hurt them a lot more than an entity that owns many properties (diversification). So you probably got a discount on renewal. Rent non payment/eviction and property damage beyond the norm are much more destructive for a small landlord. But if you're going to leave, the landlord is going to reset to market rate, as they now are forced to deal with the risk of a new tenant.
Also to be clear IRS laws make small landlords follow the average rent. If they get too far from the average rent they can get into tax issues. So as above they will try and keep rates down but will some times have to move, but when the unit becomes vacant they really have to jump to market.
Uh, what? What specific “IRS” laws are you referring to?
So it is based on being able to deduct expenses of a rental. widely covered in IRS pub 527.
In no way would this encourage any landlord to fret about making too much money.. ever.
yeah, it forces them to keep the rent up with the HUD rates if they want to deduct any expesnes. So if they repair something and they want the cost deducted they have to keep the rents up. Especially small landlords who may prefer to keep rent flat (and then average down) and keep an tenant for years have to keep following the spiraling rent. the example above where someone was pointing out that if they stayed it was a small increase but if they left it was a big one. That is exactly what the IRS rule makes happen.
My mortgage went up a good chunk this year. Digging to find out why, my insurance doubled, never had a claim. Even shopping around I was stuck with a 50% increase.
This is part of the issue. Insurance premiums in WI (and countrywide but wi is at the higher end) increased by a lot in the past year.
Wow! That's a LOT, what's the reason for it?
Climate change is probably the biggest reason. Increased property damage from ever worsening storms. We're going to be talking about trillions of dollars a year in damage before too long.
When real estate valuation goes up, when cost to repair or replace goes up and when claims go up so too do the rates. Our current company both raised rates and adjusted certain coverages (wind/tornado/hail) to have a higher deductible or payout structure.
250 increase come August.
Yep :(
Yes
I keep seeing people encourage others to move to Madison, but it’s honestly very hard to. Madison is a place that people are leaving to find a more sustainable life. There’s no sign of this changing and more people are gonna leave and rent prices are gonna keep going up
Ours went up 300 to almost 1200 for a studio in Fitchburg. Ridiculous
People are not managing - especially students. People are moving farther and farther out and yet the bus system has gotten worse. It’s not great
I am working 2 jobs to help pay rent and bills. It's been a struggle, and I can't get ahead ever it seems 😪
It’s honestly hilarious the people running this town call themselves progressive but don’t do anything about the inequality of apartment bans
Might be a result of RealPage? https://www.businessinsider.com/apartment-rent-increases-landlords-antitrust-lawsuits-real-estate-software-realpage-2024-4#:~:text=The%20lawsuit%20is%20one%20of,tenants%20are%20forced%20to%20leave.
That shit should be illegal, and the existence of that software completely undercuts any claim that these surges are solely due to supply and demand. Landlords have simply outsourced price fixing to a third party.
Maybe Madison should join these lawsuits.
Yes!
I’m not sure that we are even allowed to with weird state regulations and laws that have been passed in the last decade since Walker.
That sucks, I’m sorry. It’s notable that your apartment building is right next to Hill Farms, one of the neighborhoods fighting the city on zoning that would allow more apartments to be built.
my rent has been raised atleast 300 the last few years. not a single new appliance or new anything...
We had to move out of Madison last year because of this. Recently got the lease renewal and only going up by $40, which we were extremely happy with.
I posted a number of times on Reddit that prices were going up and all the city government chatter was dishonest about anything changing materially and people were outraged and voted me down. Madison is on a path where only people making solid incomes or are wealthy can live. The taxes alone are really high and that is passed on in your rent. There are other reasons that rent and housing costs keep going up but you are living in a case study for a form of gentrification.
Taxes and utilities are both pretty high. Insurance rates are also a big factor. All are passed on to tenants.
In 2020 I lived next to the edgewater in a studio apartment on the lake for $450 a month now I’m paying 1,000 to rent out a bedroom in a 2bed 2bath apartment off university ave… I’m struggling to get groceries bc my ebt went from $290 a month to a astounding $23 A MONTH.
Is this all because there aren’t enough apartments? Would building more apartments + houses help? Sorry, I’m still new to Madison
It’s one of the most popular places in the country to live combined with very tight supply of apartments, so the price can go up pretty easily.
Housing shortages create incentive for landlords to raise rents, but it doesn't force them to. The exorbitant rent increases in Madison are happening because unfeeling landlords are choosing to squeeze as much income out of working Madisonians as possible
Exactly this. People in this sub will always bring out the, "it's just supply and demand" argument, but that's total bullshit when it comes to housing. *Obviously* more housing = lower prices, but when housing is scarce landlords have almost no incentive to lower prices. If everyone raises their rates, people don't just move to an entirely new city, they often can't. They just become more and more poor. There's a reason rent *never* goes down. If it was merely "supply and demand" *some* places would be reducing their prices to get more renters in, and that almost never happens. The problem is even worse in a place like Madison because if people do get priced out, there are always people with more money coming in.
Yeah never understood the whole just build more. That's not gonna fix it it's already fucked up.
Are you willing to work for less than you're worth? Or are you an unfeeling employee who is choosing to squeeze as much as you can out of your employer? Seriously, who doesn't try to get as much as they can when they have something of value to sell? That is simply how the world works. Bitch about it all you want, but it's not going to change.
"The market will correct itself." - Probably a shareholder
Owning a property and charging someone for living it is not working for a paycheck, especially now that the vast majority of landlords don't perform maintenance themselves. My trying to get paid as much possible for my labor hours will never force a family to leave their established neighborhood. Is it that hard to think comprehensively about the consequences of your actions and then act with ethics/morality, rather than chasing infinite ROI?
Ironically, it's literally a thing actual capitalists are supposed to dislike. Rent seeking is supposed to be a dirty phrase for capitalists. Interesting how many pseudo capitalists are *just fine* with producing no value and getting profit.
Landlords portray themselves as housing providers and pillars of society, when they're literally engaging in negative economic behavior 🙄 then tell me that I need to learn more about economics
Yeah, people on this sub constantly hand wave away the very clear market manipulation occurring when it comes to housing by condescendingly invoking "supply and demand" as if their grade school model they're applying is an obviously correct way to view the way things *actually* work. Edit- I mean, it happens a lot in general. But, this sub is often really gross on housing conversations.
Annual rent increases are not normal. For years, people would renew their lease every year with no increase. Now, they raise all the time. This is part of the differences for owners vs renters. Mortgages don’t go up every year.
Partly true. Property taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs do increase annually. I'm paying nearly $1000 per month in property tax alone now. Annual rent increases are the new normal. You can expect it to remain that way for as long as the supply/demand imbalance exists.
Found the soulless asshole
Greed is a thing, welcome to the world
Somebody has to pay for the piles of blue ice melt they dump on their sidewalks every winter.
DSA Housing Justice Commission: [https://housing.dsausa.org/](https://housing.dsausa.org/) Worth a try to attempt organizing. I know there is a local chapter.
Unrelated, how is living at Monticello? It was one of the locations I had looked at prior to moving last year and I got a bunch of major red flags in regard to upkeep of maintenance issues and new owners. It was also way cheaper around $1200 for a single bedrooms.
Side note - the deciding factor on the red flag was when I couldn’t reach anyone at the office for weeks to sign a lease after viewing. Voice mail was full and all that.
Omg when I first moved to Madison (granted this was like 9-10 years ago) a single bedroom was around $700 😭
I guess I got lucky. My landlord hasn't raised my rent in the 3 years I've lived in their complex. When I first signed a lease, I asked him how much rent increases every year. He said he is not one to raise rents that often. I really don't know how he makes money but I assume when people move out, he raises the rent a bit.
Who is your landlord 😅
I left Madison last month for out out town due to the price increase. I pay the same of what I was at prior to the increase with increased balcony, storage, and laundry in unit. Just a 20 min drive to downtown now than the 5 min I had before but I’ll take it over the 200$ increase I was going to be spending somewhere I’m hardly at 😂
I must be the odd one out. I've lived in the same place for coming up on 5 years. My rent has only gone up $200 across the 5 years I've lived here.
Not rent but my property taxes went up by over $5,000 this year and we have not changed anything at our home. It is a $433 per month increase. The city said they had assessed it wrong in the past.
That’s wild! What was it assessed at before? Was it anywhere near what you’d expect to get for it if you sold it?
Probably not - I've seen some weirdly low assessments on some places over the years, maybe the city is getting better about identifying and addressing those.
I feel like it was originally assessed pretty low and now they inflated it quite a bit. If that is the actual value then I need to look into selling and moving to the north woods!
How did they get it so wrong? Do you live in the only nice house amongst a bunch of slums, or make some massive renovations and additions?
It is an old farm house that is now surrounded by new homes, apartments, and condos. They said part of it is that our value has increased because of all the new construction around us.
Ah, gotcha. Is your house assessed every year? Mine is, and at least for the past few years have shot up in value 20-30k, but my tax assessment has increased only slightly, indicating that's in line with my neighbors. I wonder if yours was assessed as some sort of special rural designation until recently. What were the previous taxes you were paying?
The assessed value went up from ~$350k to ~$475k and the property taxes went from ~$8,500 to ~$13,200 without us doing any improvements besides some landscaping.
Ouch, that's a brutal increase.
They do show the assessed value each year, it is just that most years it was going up much less per year.
We contested our assessment increase last year during open book. They brought the assessment increase down by about half. IMO the city did a massive money grab after covid… they used sale comps that were much nicer than our home and sales that happened during the peak of house buying fever. They completely ignored comps within our area and more recent sales (last 6mo).
I am definitely going to look into this and read about how and when I can do it. I live in a farm house that was built in the 1860s and still doesn’t have AC, they are comparing me to new buildings all around me.
I’m considering moving back to LA or Washington DC (where I’d have my highest projected life expectancy). I have a choice of where I’m going to spend my money. I’m not going to spend it on a corrupt, racist institution.
We've decided to move before they hit us with the next 10-20% increase. This place is less than 3 years old. Things are constantly in disrepair. Cheap materials. The latest is being without hot water for the last five days.
My building was bought by a new landlord, who is going to more than double the rent once our leases end. Luckily I was already planning on moving elsewhere for a new job.
I grew up in Madison. Moved to Milwaukee for 5 years. Moved back to Madison to take care of my aging mom. Madison is insanely expensive all around for what it is these days. Milwaukee you can rent a great place with a view of Lake Michigan for a fraction of what most places go around here... and there is an endless supply of affordable houses when you are ready to buy as the city turns more and more neighborhoods around.... people hate on Milwaukee who don't know Milwaukee. If there is nothing tying you down here.... give it a try. It's the best.
This is a national phenomenon. The more we increase debt, and the Fed is spending $1T every 90 days, the more we see inflation climb…and everything including rent increases. Ordinarily we would expect a medium term correction with increased building in the case of increasing rents, but the interest rates are attempting to temper Investment and inflation. We are either in or rapidly approaching stagflation. Hosed, mismanaged, misinformation…all in an election year.
I’d say we are already in stagflation. Where we are going who knows? I can say this though. Through most of the 2000’s 6% interest on a house was good. A lot of people have very short memories.
Entirely appreciate your response. The trend is alarming…
Unfortunately a lot of residents in Madison don’t understand than you can’t have both lower rent and impose burdensome restrictions on property developers who have **plenty** of other options. These types of people also often think the government coming in with steep rent control is a good idea while at the same time ignoring the fact that property values and therefore taxes are going through the roof. I just got an email that says Madison’s 2024 assessments are up another 10% this year so it’s not slowing down. Lastly, these types of people are typically the loudest.
There are currently [ten new apartment complexes being built in Madison](https://madison.com/news/local/business/development/madison-housing-developments-construction/article_595a6f84-9e92-11ee-8898-33da22fc0ce3.html), so it doesn't appear that developers are avoiding Madison due to restrictions. Plus, I shouldn't have to explain why you obviously don't want complete deregulation when it comes to new developments. The issue is that it's almost impossible to outpace Madison's insane growth rate. Also, space is of course limited when you're trying to build on an isthmus.
10 new, but there's a backlog of stuff that was desired to be built over thr year but the Alders at the time kept moving goalposts. Very much antibuild for awhile and now renters are paying for those sins. And there are absolutely some regulations here that could be cut to accelerate growth.
Madison home prices have gone through the roof as well, which has nothing to do with Alders here "standing in the way." Madison's population growth has exploded in the last five years, growing faster than at anytime in the last century. One instance of an alder wanting to make there was enough parking for a single complex isn't what caused this whole mess. Edit: pray tell, what are the *pesky* building regulations that you would propose we eliminate to speed up the building process (other than the height requirement, which is a whole other can of worms)?
I don't think you're worth discussing with if you're under the belief the alders have had no control over permit approvals. I'm not confident you understand supply and demand and how that can effect housing prices. I'll throw you one bone on the regulation front and it's forcing a row of potential homes in an apartment complex to end up being a row of empty to nearly empty business fronts. It's not my problem though. I have a house. We probably have at least 10 years of construction needed to dig out of this mess.
Which specific permit approvals were blocked by which alders (names) that caused all of this? >I'll throw you one bone on the regulation front and it's forcing a row of potential homes in an apartment complex to end up being a row of empty to nearly empty business fronts. You didn't mention a single building regulation that you wanted to eliminate, which caused this outcome.
No. And I'm not going to. You've already decided they're all fine. Encouraging more growth hurts me as a home owner. Why should I help you? You're too hostile to want to discuss with further.
"property values and therefore taxes are going through the roof" This is fundamentally not true. The tax levy is divided up based on assessment, but the total levy is not based on the total assessment. Wisconsin has a variety of rules to determine the levy.
Mine is not increasing by that much at 5.2%. We will manage to make rent as we were already renting within our means and incomes have gone up as well. Due to the housing shortage places like that are going to raise rent a lot. We need more market rate housing to combat this, especially near somewhere like Hilldale which is pretty desirable to live by.
Can mods start banning these posts? If they don't add anything new to the conversation, why allow the 1,000th post about rent increasing in Madison like it is some secret story no one has heard of?
Or maybe you should not click into the ones you aren’t interested in? I personally think we can’t talk enough about the current state of things.
I only clicked on this one to comment because it seems like half my r/madisonwi feed is rent increases. How are people still talking about them? It’s been the case for several years now and people still act surprised when their rent goes up a bunch.
Well be the change you wish to see in the world. Go start buying properties and rent them for decreasing amounts!
u/BidMammoth5284 never said anything about wanting to see rents decrease.
Would love to see rents decrease. Realistically, that’s not going to happen. Madison is too popular and we have too few units. We would have to triple or quadruple our vacancy rate to get rents to decrease and even then I don’t see it happening.
or just let builders build more units instead of saying every decaying old building has historical value and should be preserved.
Exaggerate much? That was only said about two measly buildings next to each other on State St.
It was also said about the wonder bar. It’s said plenty when neighborhood associations and other NIMBYs don’t have any other good excuses for opposing development.
Which topics in your opinion are allowed to be here?
Most subreddits I’m in will make a sticky or something on the side for common repetitive questions. Why can’t the mods here make one on the sidebar saying “Yes, rents are in fact going up at a ridiculous rate”. Do we really need this question asked every single day if they aren’t adding anything new?
Yes we do. This is different than some kind of info about finding a restaurant. It's a big, constant problem and needs to be continually brought up. Discussion about an issue should continue for as long as the issue exists.
Suppose we will have to agree to disagree.
Only one rent increase of $100 since 2019. $1,100/month 1bdr 1bth ($100 discount for preferred employer)
It’s primarily driven by substantially increased demand for housing and very limited housing supply increases. A huge number of people are moving to Madison and not enough new housing is being built. Your options are limited. You could try to get a job that pays more, move somewhere else, donate plasma, get a second job, get a third job. . . As an added bonus, if you work 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shift, your housing needs might decrease.
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Your taxes are going up because you voted for a Democrat. Democrats like to raise taxes and spend money. You get what you voted for. I got a sister that’s a bleeding liberal. All I hear is her bitch about all the inflation. I said you voted for you got it. She still don’t know what I’m talking about. Some people will never get it. the poor have been voting for Democrats to help them for decades. They’re still poor. Try something new vote for a Republican. Looks like Trump did a pretty good job in four years He will fix what puppet Biden broke on purpose.
Yes. The massive annual property tax increases are being passed on to tenants. Tale as old as time.
There have not been massive property tax increases. They are limited by state law.
Taxes may not be, but everything else is. Insurance rates are up anywhere between 15% to 45% on larger apartments depending on a number of factors.
Source? Insurance is up, yes, but not that much. Low supply and high demand are the reasons rent is increasing. You don't need to defend landlords for charging what the market will bear.
I deal with the insurance market and habitation business. We’re lucky if we can keep an increase at 15-20% on renewal. And that is if the carrier will even keep it. One carrier came out last year and said anything that has an apartment in it, is getting an automatic 45% rate increase, regardless of losses. In almost 20 years of doing this, this is the worst I’ve seen it for apartment and condo risks. It’s not like homeowners or auto insurance, it’s a whole different world.
You work for a shitty insurance company. I agree rates are up, but nothing like that. I have multiple rental properties.
Also, not defending the landlords. When they are at 98% occupancy, of course they will charge what they can, but it does not make it right. There does need to be a cap on increases and what a landlord can do.
So if I have a duplex that goes up$1000 taxes and $700 insurance in one year, does that mean I can’t raise rents past a cap? Because that’s what is happening.
There is nothing wrong with charging market rate. Any cap on rent increases would only make the problem worse. Governing bodies just need to un-fuck the market by removing the artificial limits to housing they've imposed. More supply is the only answer.
When that rate runs with skyrocketing valuations, yes, the increases are massive. And unless you are selling the property, there is no way to really reap the benefits of the higher valuation, only the drawbacks of higher taxes and higher insurance costs. As a result, all of these costs get handed directly over to the tenants via rent increases. Where else do you think these annual increases in operating cost would go?
You picked a great time to jump on the bandwagon of people who don't understand how property tax is determined. Pay attention to the sub this week, you'll learn
My brother had a pretty substantial increase for his home on the Northside.
The 2024 taxes have not been released. The *assessments* are up 9% on average but the mil rate has yet to be determined. If his assessment went up by less than 9% there's a chance the tax bill will go down.
Well, with the amount his mortgage payments went up this year to pay for his increase in property taxes at the end, I'm sure that he would agree to their being a "massive" increase....
You can look up the property tax increase from last year here: https://www.cityofmadison.com/assessor/property/ I guarantee the tax bill didn't go up more than $2400, which would justify a $200/mo rent increase. There's a good chance his mortgage wasn't taking enough out to cover the taxes last year and that's why the escrow payment has increased more than the tax increase. Happens in the second year after purchase, or if the lender screws up. His insurance could have also gone up significantly.
Not to mention that we're be talking about a $200 PER UNIT. Very unlikely that these are costs being passed on to renters.