Daniels Media Center
Apartment vacancies flat in 6 Colorado cities, rents drop, state say
Denver Business Journal, MSN Money
Apartment vacancies in several Colorado cities outside Denver were basically flat in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to the same period of ?08, while average rent dropped about $12 a month, according to a report released Thursday by the Colorado Division of Housing.
Both statistics were strongly influenced by employment, with areas hardest hit by unemployment seeing significant increases in vacancy and drops in average rent. The ?Colorado Multifamily Housing Vacancy & Rental Report? covers the cities of Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Loveland, Grand Junction, Greeley and Pueblo. Metro Denver has its own apartment-market report for the period, released in January. That report said metro Denver?s apartment vacancy rate for 2009?s fourth quarter was basically flat from the same period of 2008, while average rents decreased.
In the new report, the six cities? average apartment vacancy rate was 7.9 percent in last year?s final quarter, compared to 8 percent for the same period of ?08. Fort Collins had the lowest apartment vacancy rate of the cities in the report, at 6.3 percent, in last year?s final period, but it was up from 4.1 percent in the fourth quarter of ?08.
Grand Junction on the Western Slope had the highest vacancy rate, at 13.2 percent, which was a huge jump from 3.1 percent year over year. ?We such a big increase in vacancies in Grand Junction because unemployment has skyrocketed there,? said Gordon Von Stroh, business professor at the University of Denver and author of the apartment market report. ?The oil and gas industry has gotten hit; there?s a slowing of the economy over there.? more>
