Apartment vacancies statewide continued to fall as rents rose through September, according to a report released Thursday by the Colorado Division of Housing.
The vacancy rate fell to 7.2 percent from 8.6 percent in September 2005. Average rents reached an all-time high of $824 a month in September.
With the exception of Summit County, mountain communities along Interstate 70 had the state’s tightest rental markets. Eagle County’s vacancy rate was 1.6 percent, while Aspen’s was 1 percent.
“We’ve always been willing to put money there (to build affordable rental units), but we can’t find the land,” said Kathi Williams, director of the Colorado Division of Housing.
Summit County’s 7 percent vacancy rate has likely dropped since the survey was done in September, but it still is higher than the other I-70 communities.
“Summit is a different marketplace,” said Gordon Von Stroh, University of Denver management professor who compiles the report. “It’s more scattered, and it has a more varied economy.”
Because of job growth in the energy sector, it’s so hard to find rental housing in Grand Junction and surrounding communities that officials are modifying zoning codes to allow RVs to be used for workforce housing.
The vacancy rate in Grand Junction was 2.8 percent.
“At some point, they will have to come up with some permanent solutions,” Williams said.
Vacancy rates were highest in Fort Morgan/Brush (12.2 percent), Colorado Springs (11.3 percent) and Sterling (9.1 percent).
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
