• Milwaukee ranked in the bottom five of cities suffering from the real estate crisis.
• Seattle was the highest ranking city.
• Lack of public transportation is a contributing factor to Milwaukee's poor ratings.

National financial and job crises have put a strain on real estate markets causing problems for major cities across the country. Washington, D.C.-based Urban Land Institute recently asked 700 real estate professionals to rank the best, and worst, places to invest in commercial real estate in the next year. Milwaukee's place in the standing is nothing to brag about.

Milwaukee was ranked the fourth worst city most likely to rebound from the real estate crisis. The 700 ranking officials were asked to rank cities on a scale from nine to one – one being an abysmal place to live and nine being excellent.

Milwaukee scored a 3.39 and Seattle, the city with the highest rank, scored a 6.15. The only cities Milwaukee outranked were Cleveland, Ohio, Detroit and New Orleans, which is still struggling to recover from the damage of Hurricane Katrina. Detroit, which received the worst score with a 2.24, is heavily dependent on the shrinking auto industry.

Anthony Pennington-Cross, associate professor of finance, said the real estate problem could be broken down into two economic fundamentals: having jobs that allow people to buy houses and companies looking to hire employees. Pennington-Cross attributed Milwaukee's poor score to the city's job market.

"Milwaukee is a city in a region with a historical reliance on manufacturing, and that industry isn't doing well now," Pennington-Cross said.

Pennington-Cross added it could be a while before Milwaukeeans see a turnaround.

"(Milwaukee) is lagging behind the rest of the nation in terms of employment growth," he said. "We aren't seeing the positive boost that others have seen in the past."

Urban Land Institute attributed the real estate problems in cities like Milwaukee, Columbus, Ohio and Cleveland, Ohio to poor or dying tourism industries. The study also said investors would be more likely to select more advantageous port cities before Midwest towns.

Pennington-Cross said the cities that are most likely to recover have already built up real estate and don't have issues, like Milwaukee, with an excess supply.

"Growth with the inability to build means higher real estate and land prices," he said.

The four other cities joining Seattle in the top five, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, all have a common factor – a vital downtown where people can go without cars.

In Wisconsin, the State Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated that the funding for roads and mass transit fell $698 million short of what is necessary to build up a viable public transportation system.

Craig Thompson, executive director of Wisconsin Transportation Development Association, said that number is now closer to $900 million.

"If you look at other major metropolitan cities, public transport is vitally important," Thompson said. "Other cities are far more robust than Milwaukee in terms of transportation options."

Thompson said increased bus fares, reduced routes and crime are the three major issues impacting and preventing public transportation in Milwaukee.

Thompson said because of rising gas prices this summer, public transport in other cities was rising. At that same time, Milwaukee's public transportation was at the lowest point since the 1970s.

Thompson said some things are being done but it's not enough.

"The major arteries, like the Marquette Interchange, were just redone," he said. "The glaring omission is the transit option."

Michael Murphy, 10th district alderman, said Milwaukee's lack of effective transportation was an issue and shows a lot of room for improvement.

"It's a tragedy that as a region we have not invested money in buses and light rail," Murphy said. "There is no cohesive group willing to take this forward, and it has hurt us."

Thompson said that dedicated funding sources, like taxes, for transit is a contributing aspect to the success of other major cities.

"Setting money aside is something Wisconsin is going to have to do to make this work," he said.