The average rent for an apartment in metro Denver rose 4.5 percent from the first quarter of last year to the same period this year, according to the Apartment Association of Metro Denver and the Colorado Division of Housing.
According to today’s report, the first quarter’s year-over-year growth rate of 4.5 percent was the largest rate of growth reported during any quarter over the past 10 years.
During the first quarter of this year, the average rent in metro Denver rose to $952 from last year’s first quarter average rent of $911 .
The report said the average rent has not grown by more than 4.5 percent, year-over-year, since the third quarter of 2001 when it grew by 8.7 percent.
Ron Throupe, professor of Real Estate at the Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management at the University of Denver, said rents tend to moderate during the first quarter, but in 2012, the “rent rose to an all-time high instead.”
“Rents continue to increase as demand grows faster than the production of units,” said Throupe, author of the report.
The average rent rose in all counties measured, with the largest increases found in Denver County and in the Boulder/Broomfield area where the rent grew year-over-year by 6.3 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively.
The highest average rents were in Douglas and the Boulder/Boomfield counties where the average rents were $1,109 and $1,070, respectively.
Jefferson County reported the lowest average rent at $897.
The apartment vacancy rate in the Denver metro area fell to 4.9 percent in the first quarter of 2012, falling from 2011’s first quarter rate of 5.5 percent, and dropping to the second-lowest vacancy rate recorded in any quarter since 2001.
“Vacancies are falling both metro-wide and in most neighborhoods we surveyed,” said Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing. “We find some high vacancy rates out in eastern and southeastern parts of the metro area, but everywhere else we’re looking at rates in the three to four-percent range, which is low.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com or twitter@HowardPankratz
