Milwaukee assessors explain 2025 value increases, urge residents to use open‑book review

Nicole Larson, the City of Milwaukee commissioner of assessments, told the Common Council’s Judiciary and Legislation Committee that the city’s 2025 revaluation produced an overall increase in assessed value of about 15.43% and that the increases reflect market sales rather than arbitrary changes by staff.

"State law also requires that every major class of property be assessed within 10% of full value at least once every 5 years," Larson said, explaining the office’s statutory duties and the methodology used to reach full market value for residential and commercial classes.

Why it matters: The reassessment changes how total value is split between land and improvements and in some neighborhoods produced much larger percentage changes than in others. Committee members and residents asked why some properties show dramatic land‑value increases and why homeowners must file objections to correct apparent classification or data errors.

What the assessor said

Larson said the assessor’s office relies on arm’s‑length sales, permit data, MLS (residential) and CoStar (commercial) data, and a computer‑aided mass appraisal model (Grama). Deputy Commissioner Bill Bowers and real‑estate modeler Colin Williams walked…