The apartment vacancy rate for metro Denver fell to 7.4 percent during the third quarter, the first time it’s fallen in 21 months, according to a report released Thursday.
Vacancy rates are now at their lowest since the third quarter of last year, when they were 6.5 percent, according to the survey by the Apartment Association of Metro Denver and the Department of Local Affairs Division of Housing.
A drop in the unemployment rate and continued population increases are likely contributors to the declining vacancy rate.
“There’s no question we’ve seen good correlations between job growth and vacancy,” said Lauren Brockman of Orion Real Estate Services Inc. “We’re still not seeing a stop in rent deflation. The consumer is still being very tough on us from a standpoint of passing on any rent increase whatsoever.”
