The beginning of October marks the unofficial start to leasing season as University of Wisconsin-Madison students look to find housing for next school year.
A recent analysis from RentCafe found Madison apartments lease faster than anywhere else in the country, with the average apartment taking 23 days to lease. Madison was also the most competitive small rental market, according to the analysis.
UW-Madison students infamously camped outside of leasing offices nearly 24 hours in advance to secure “first come first serve” leases in October 2022.
RentCafe analyzed market-rate properties with 50 or more units in 139 cities, examining leasing duration, occupancy rates, competition among renters, lease renewal percentages and the share of new apartments using data from Yardi Systems.
Apartments in Miami-Dade County, the nation’s most competitive rental market, took 33 days on average to lease — 10 days longer than units in Madison.
RentCafe attributed Madison’s highly competitive rental market to the city’s low unemployment rate, status as a biotech hub and housing undersupply.
District 8 Ald. MGR Govindarajan also attributed Madison’s housing crisis to an influx of “young professionals” and a low supply of housing relative to Madison’s growth.
“The high amount of enrollment recently has really oversaturated the city with too many students and not enough housing, but at the end of the day, I don't think it would have actually made too much a difference,” Govindarajan told The Daily Cardinal in August. “We've had almost, if not more, young professionals who have already graduated coming into Madison, especially the last five years.”
Dane County is Wisconsin’s fastest growing county, and UW-Madison has had several recent record high freshman enrollments. Since 2010, UW-Madison enrollment has increased by 34%, according to a recent housing study commissioned by UW-Madison and the city of Madison.
The study found the typical student pays $1,273 in rent and that less than one third of beds located within 2.5 miles of campus are affordable — defined as below $980. The study also said University Housing consistently operated at above occupancy levels by converting smaller residence hall rooms into triples and quads and dens and lounges into rooms.
To address the housing crisis, the city is exploring changes to zoning ordinances, and UW-Madison hopes to gain approval from the Wisconsin Legislature to build a new dorm in the next budget cycle.
Noe Goldhaber is the college news editor and former copy chief for The Daily Cardinal. She is a Statistics and Journalism major and has specialized on a wide range of campus topics including protests, campus labor, student housing, free speech and campus administration. She has done data analysis and visualization for the Cardinal on a number of stories. Follow her on Twitter at @noegoldhaber.
