Apartment vacancies in metro Denver continued to fall in the first quarter, the Apartment Association of Metro Denver and the Colorado Division of Housing said Friday.
The first-quarter metro apartment vacancy rate stood at 6.5 percent, down from 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter and 8.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009, the report said.
During the 2002-03 recession, apartment vacancies peaked at 13.1 percent.
But in this cycle, it looks like the 9 percent rate reached in the second quarter of 2009 will represent the peak.
One key reason is that builders have added fewer units this time around.
“We added almost 8,000 new units in 2001 and more than 9,000 in 2002, so that led to quite a few vacancies as unemployment rose in 2003,” said Terrance Hunt, a broker with Apartment Realty Advisors.
From 2003 to 2009, builders have averaged 3,000 new units a year, Hunt said.
Tighter mortgage standards have also kept renters from buying homes, while elevated foreclosures are pushing some owners back into renting.
Arapahoe County reported the highest apartment vacancy rate in the metro region — 7.2 percent versus 9.7 percent a year earlier.
Other county vacancy rates were 6.8 percent in Adams; 5 percent in Boulder/Broomfield; 5.8 percent in Jefferson and 4.4 percent in Douglas.
Lower vacancy rates haven’t translated into higher average rents, with the overall average rent in metro Denver falling to $877.16 in the first quarter from $881.92 in the first quarter of 2009.
Rents rose slightly from 2009’s fourth-quarter average rent of $875.39.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com
Adams County: 6.8%
Arapahoe County: 7.2%
Boulder/Broomfield: 5.0%
Denver: 6.9%
Douglas County: 4.4%
Jefferson County:5.8%
Metro Denver: 6.5%
