July 2026 · Guide · 3 min read · by Kinan Sawar, MD — REALTOR® at Shorewest, REALTORS®
The region's median gross rent yield is 4.72%. What that number includes, what it leaves out, and how the math changes with a 6.9% mortgage. Not investment advice.
Gross rent yield is one year of rent divided by the purchase price. No expenses, no financing — just rent over price. Across Southeast Wisconsin's municipalities, the median gross rent yield is 4.72% as of April 30, 2026.
In plain terms: at a 4.72% gross yield, a $250,000 property would collect about $11,800 in rent per year, or roughly $983 per month. That is the top-line number before a single expense is paid.
Milwaukee County's typical rent is $1,516 per month against a typical home value of $288,774. That is $18,192 in annual rent divided by $288,774 — a gross yield of about 6.3%, well above the regional municipal median of 4.72%.
The pattern is structural: lower-priced markets tend to collect more rent per dollar of purchase price. And because 4.72% is a median, half of the region's municipalities gross less than that. The high-value municipalities in the dataset — Delafield at $757,187, River Hills at $960,523, Oconomowoc Lake at $2,005,472 — cost far more per door, and rent rarely scales one-for-one with price.
Two costs are easy to estimate from the data: property tax at roughly 1.1% of value per year and insurance at roughly 0.55%. Together that is 1.65% of value, every year, before anything else. On the Milwaukee County typical value of $288,774, that is about $3,177 in tax and $1,588 in insurance — $4,765 per year, or roughly 26% of the $18,192 gross rent.
Subtract just those two items and the county's 6.3% gross becomes roughly 4.65%. Apply the same 1.65% to the regional median of 4.72% and you are near 3.07% — before vacancy, maintenance, management, and capital repairs, none of which are in these figures. Gross yield is a screening number, not a return.
Now add a mortgage. At 6.9% with 20% down, the all-in monthly cost (principal, interest, tax, insurance) on the county's typical $288,774 home is roughly $1,919. Typical rent is $1,516. That is about a $400 monthly gap before vacancy, maintenance, or management — the property does not carry itself at these assumptions.
A larger down payment, a lower purchase price, a higher-rent unit, or a different rate all change that arithmetic. The point is not that rentals do or do not work here; it is that the current rate environment makes the spreadsheet mandatory. Run the numbers on the specific property, not on averages.
Higher gross yield is not automatically better. The yield number says nothing about appreciation, property condition, turnover costs, or your tax situation — and lower-yield, higher-price municipalities may suit a different strategy than higher-yield ones. These figures are a snapshot as of April 30, 2026, and past figures do not guarantee future results.
This guide is general information, not investment, tax, or legal advice. Before buying a rental, talk to a licensed lender about financing, and a CPA or financial advisor about how a property fits your situation. If you want to know what a specific property — or the home you would sell to fund one — is worth today, get a free valuation at sawarhomes.com/home-value or book a free 15-minute call.
Southeast Wisconsin's median municipal gross rent yield is 4.72%; Milwaukee County's typical rent and value pencil to about 6.3%. But tax and insurance alone run about 1.65% of value per year, and at 6.9% with 20% down the typical county home costs roughly $400 more per month than it rents for. Screen with gross yield — decide with a full expense-and-financing spreadsheet and licensed professional advice.
Kinan Sawar, MD — REALTOR® at Shorewest, REALTORS®, serving Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington, Racine, Kenosha, and Walworth counties). Email: [email protected] · Phone: (618) 713-2964.
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Home values and rents are Zillow ZHVI/ZORI estimates for the named area, as of 2026-07-03; incomes and population are U.S. Census (SAIPE, Population Estimates); migration is IRS Statistics of Income. Area-level statistical estimates for information only — not an appraisal, and not financial, legal, or tax advice.