Cedarburg Put Its Biggest Subdivision Plan in Years on Hold. Buyers Waiting on New Construction Should Watch the Resale Clock.

"Let's measure it with the properties that are within the city limits at this point in time, and take it a step at a time," Mayor Pat Thome told TMJ4 after the Cedarburg Common Council denied annexing the farmland along Highway 60 where Neumann Developments wanted to build nearly 400 single-family homes.

That vote happened in September 2026. A month later, it matters most to people who aren't Cedarburg residents yet. I talk with a lot of move-up buyers who plan to wait for a new subdivision to open so they can pick a lot and skip the bidding. In Cedarburg, that wait now depends on a city boundary decision, and the boundary didn't move. While buyers wait, resale homes in the Cedarburg ZIP code are selling in a median of nine days, 60.9% faster than a year earlier.

Nine Days, 102 Percent of List

Metro MLS's third-quarter report for 2026, prepared October 13, shows how fast the existing-home market in ZIP code 53012 is moving compared with Ozaukee County overall.

At the county level, homes sold at list price. In 53012 they sold above it, and in under half the county's time. In Q3 2026 the countywide supply was 2.3 months, with 266 homes for sale. The Wisconsin REALTORS Association's August 2026 report measures it a little differently and puts Ozaukee County at 3.5 months of inventory, with a $496,000 median for that single month. Either way, the county is tight, and Cedarburg's ZIP code is tighter still.

Part of that gap comes down to how few new homes the city has been approving.

How Many Homes the City Approved in 2025

Wisconsin requires larger municipalities to publish a yearly report on residential development fees, and Cedarburg's New Housing Fee Report for 2025 includes a dwelling count for the year. The city recorded 22 new residential units in 2025. Eighteen were two-family dwellings, four were single-family homes, and none were multifamily.

That's four single-family approvals in a full year. The report counts projects in the year they were approved, so it measures what the city approved, not every house that wrapped up construction. Even so, it shows how thin the new-construction pipeline is. The same report lists the city's development fees, effective January 21, 2026, at $10,830.52 per single-family or condominium unit across sewer, library, police, water, park and park-land charges.

With so few new homes in the pipeline, nearly every buyer ends up shopping the same small pool of resale listings. That's what produces 9-day sales at 102.2% of list.

The Vote That Kept the Grob Land in the Town

The site in question is the 214-acre former Grob Airfields property north of Highway 60, west of Sheboygan Road, owned by Covered Bridge Fields LLC. Fifty-six acres in the southeast corner are already inside the city. The remaining 158 acres sit on the city's side of the Town/City Boundary Agreement but haven't been annexed.

The News Graphic reported that Neumann first approached the city in 2024 with nearly 560 units. The city then paused new residential reviews while it updated its Comprehensive Land Use Plan, and it adopted the housing chapters in October 2025. Neumann's most recent plan, from June, called for 394 single-family homes at 1.91 units per net buildable acre, with an average lot of 12,386 square feet.

The council's denial was unanimous. Thome told the News Graphic that the 2050 plan identifies other properties already inside city limits, and that she wants to see those develop first. Council member Kristian Lindo said city services would need attention before any expansion. "I don't want to expand the footprint of the city and play catch up," he told the paper.

The boundary agreement is what makes this vote matter more than a typical zoning decision. As the News Graphic described it, the Town of Cedarburg agrees to keep currently undeveloped land undeveloped so it stays available for future city growth. The town also commits to zoning that discourages premature development. Kurt Petrie, managing member of Covered Bridge Fields LLC, and Neumann Companies CEO Matt Neumann told the council that without annexation the property would be "downsized" by the town's zoning. For the 158 unannexed acres, the agreement keeps the land waiting on a future city decision.

Neumann also told the council that "over 70% of the city's future growth is on this property for single-family residential," and warned that the border agreement limits where else the city can annex. That's the developer's estimate, not a city figure. Council member Mark Mueller's comment points the same way, though: "I think at some point in time in the future that it'll have to be annexed but right now I don't think the timing's right." The plan is on hold, with no end date.

The Price Tiers That Never Got Built

An earlier concept for the same 214 acres shows what this decision kept off the market. When Neumann brought its 481-unit Covered Bridge plan to the Plan Commission, the News Graphic published starting prices for each housing type:

1. 32 fourplex townhome condominiums starting in the low $400,000s
2. 62 duplex townhouse-style condominiums in the mid-to-upper $400,000s
3. 50 ranch-style duplex condominiums in the mid-to-upper $500,000s
4. 193 single-family villas in the mid-to-upper $500,000s
5. 111 single-family residences in the mid-to-upper $600,000s
6. 33 single-family estates starting in the low $800,000s

Compare that list with the Q3 2026 median of $569,001 in 53012. Roughly 70% of the proposed units, 337 of 481, fell in categories with starting prices in the $400,000s or $500,000s, near or below the ZIP code's current resale median. Commissioners and residents called that version too dense, and Thome said she wanted more of the larger residences and estates. The later 394-home plan dropped the attached products and went all single-family, with no published prices. Now that version is on hold too.

During that same review, Neumann president Bryan Lindgren told the commission that putting "$650,000-plus homes along Highway 60" was "not going to be as well received." Debates over density on this site come down to price points. Buyers looking for a newer home in the $400,000s to $500,000s in Cedarburg had the most riding on how they turned out.

What's Actually in the In-City Pipeline

If growth is supposed to happen inside current city limits first, the projects already moving through City Hall show what that looks like in practice. They're small.

• Quarry Park Subdivision. The Glen at Quarry Park LLC's 24-lot single-family neighborhood on 11.5 acres, east of Stone Lake Condominiums and north of Fairfield Manor, was on the Common Council's May 2026 agenda for final plat approval.
• Stone Lake Condominium Phase II. On the same agenda, Stone Lake Development, Inc. asked for final condominium plat approval of a 19-building, 38-unit expansion at Stone Lake Circle, in a two-family PUD district.
• Eden Preserve. Coach House Homes' seven-home infill proposal on 1.78 acres at Hilbert and Washington avenues, earlier presented as The Promenade, failed to get a rezoning recommendation from the Plan Commission on January 5, 2026, on a 6–1 vote.

Together, the two active projects come to 62 homes, and only 24 of them are detached single-family lots. That's a meaningful jump from four single-family approvals in 2025. It's also a small fraction of the 394 that were proposed for Highway 60.

Waiting Versus Bidding

For a buyer who wants a newer single-family home in Cedarburg, these numbers point in one direction. The new-construction projects moving through City Hall right now are a short, named list, and you can follow each one on the city's CivicClerk portal. Most of what's for sale will be resale homes, and in Q3 2026 those sold in 53012 at a median of 102.2% of list after 9 days.

In practice, waiting for a lot in a big new subdivision means waiting on a new annexation petition for the Grob land and another council vote. Neither is on any calendar. Buyers who are ready now get the most out of preparing for a resale market that moves in days: financing settled, a firm price ceiling, and a short list of streets picked before the right listing appears. Buyers who are flexible on location can compare the county's 22-day median with Cedarburg's 9-day median and decide how much that extra speed is worth to them.

A Few Questions Buyers Ask

Is the Grob site permanently off the table? Nothing reported says so. The News Graphic reported that the city doesn't pursue annexations itself and only takes them up when a property owner petitions, and council members described the issue as one of timing.

Does the denial affect the 56 acres already inside the city? The annexation request covered the 158 acres outside city limits. No proposal for the in-city portion alone has been reported.

Is Cedarburg's market really that different from the rest of Ozaukee County? In Q3 2026, by Metro MLS's figures, 53012 sold about two and a half times faster than the county median, at a higher share of list price, with a median about $70,000 above the county's.

If you've been holding off on a Cedarburg move until new construction opens up, let's look at what's actually coming through City Hall and what's selling on the streets you're considering, side by side. I'm Brynn Woll, a Cedarburg-based REALTOR®. Schedule a call and we'll build a plan around this market as it stands. If you already own here and wonder how scarce supply affects your home's value, get your Instant Home Valuation.