DENVER—Apartment vacancy rates in Colorado fell to 5.7 percent in the third quarter of 2007, with rates in western Colorado as low as 1.2 percent, the Colorado Division of Housing said Tuesday.
The statewide rate for the quarter was down from 7.2 percent in the same quarter last year.
Anything below 5 percent is considered a tight market.
Vacancy rates in western Colorado, where the oil and gas industry is booming, are below 5 percent. The rate in Grand Junction was 1.8 percent. The rate in Buena Vista was 1.2 percent, the lowest in the state.
Colorado Springs had an apartment vacancy rate of 8 percent, but that was still a five-year low for the area, the Division of Housing said.
Sterling in northeast Colorado had a vacancy rate of 10.3 percent.
Apartment rents throughout the West have been rising as tougher borrowing standards have made it more difficult for many renters to buy a home.
