Average Metro Denver Apartment Rents

Average metro Denver apartment rents up 12%; vacancies down in most areas

Average apartment rents in Denver climbed again in the fourth quarter, increasing by 12 percent to $1,168 from $1,041 in the same quarter of 2013.

Simultaneously, the apartment vacancy rate in the metro area dropped from 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 to 4.7 percent at the end of 2014, according to the latest data from the Apartment Association of Metro Denver.

Five of the six areas surveyed for the report saw decreases in vacancy rate. Boulder and Broomfield counties, which are combined into a single survey area, experienced a dramatic increase in vacancy rate, jumping from 3.4 percent to 7.2 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter. This is due in large part to the delivery of hundreds of new apartment units in Broomfield.

Broomfield’s overall vacancy rate leaped to 10.7 percent in the fourth quarter, the highest of any other region within the metro Denver market.

As of the end of third-quarter 2014, 1,057 units had been completed year-to-date in Broomfield, or about 28 percent of the city’s total 5,248 units. By comparison, in the first nine months of 2013, just 272 apartment units had been completed in Broomfield, according to a report from James Real Estate Services Inc.

Another 1,489 units were under construction in Broomfield in the third quarter, some of which had anticipated completion dates occurring in the fourth quarter, though specific data with regard to fourth-quarter completion is not yet available.

In total, metro Denver added 7,588 new apartment units in 2014, bringing the number of apartment units to 305,708, according to the Apartment Association. In spite of this, demand for rental housing continues to outpace supply, the association said.

“With the development surge began in 2013, it was speculated that 25,000 to 30,000 new apartments would be built in three years, but only 13,000 have been delivered so far,” saidMark Williams, executive vice president of the Apartment Association. “Much of this is due to the difficulty in keeping the approval and construction schedules on time, and the availability of skilled labor.”

Molly Armbrister covers real estate, retail and construction for the Denver Business Journal and writes for the “Real Deals” blog. Phone: 303-803-9232.

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