Trends in the apartment market throughout the state are mixed, according to a survey released Thursday.
Apartment vacancies were up in Fort Collins and Colorado Springs, but Greeley showed a significant decline in vacancies during the second quarter, according to the report released by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs’ Division of Housing.
“There’s no one trend right now going on in the state, which demonstrates that there’s no one economy in the state right now,” said Ryan McMaken, a spokesman for the Division of Housing. ”
Meanwhile, all areas of the state reported increases in rental rates. The average increase was around $30 a month.
“It’s the increased cost of doing business,” said Gordon Von Stroh, a professor of management at the University of Denver. “Electricity and gas for common areas is up, redoing parking lots costs more and insurance is more. It’s more of a cost push rather than a price pull because of greater demand.”
In Fort Collins, the vacancy rate rose to 9.5 percent, compared with 8.5 percent a year ago. Colorado Springs vacancies climbed to 10.2 percent, up from 9.6 percent a year ago.
Grand Junction has record-low vacancies of 1.6 percent, and Loveland reported the lowest vacancy rate on the Front Range, falling to 5.7 percent from 10.4 percent a year ago.
“Grand Junction is still very tight because of oil and gas development,” Von Stroh said. “There’s still a great demand for rental housing by oil-field workers and support people for that industry.”
The metro Denver vacancy rate is 6.2 percent, unchanged from a year ago.
Pueblo’s vacancy rate was down to 6.4 percent from 8.4 percent last year, and Greeley’s vacancy rate dropped to 6.1 percent from 8.3 percent last year.
The tornado that hit Windsor in May is one of the factors that pushed the vacancy rate lower in Greeley, Von Stroh said — that and jobs created by businesses such as Leprino Foods locating in Greeley.
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
