Rent Prices Keep Going Up In Denver As Vacancy Rates Drop

DENVER (CBS4)- Rent prices keep going up in Denver as vacancy rates continue to drop. The average cost of rent has gone up $107 since the beginning of the year.

According to the University of Denver Daniels College of Business, there are fewer places to rent. The current vacancy rate has dropped from 5.5% in January to 3.7 in June. This is because more families are choosing to renew their leases rather than buy a home as housing prices continue to soar in the Denver metro area.

Another reason, moratoriums and programs assisting families with their rent which leaves fewer units available.

"That is extremely low. That is what we in the ballpark call 'frictional vacancy' and that is just a turnover of units when one moving out and another moving in where you get a couple of weeks lag of empty space. But we are extremely low on empty space in availability," said Ron Throupe with the University of Denver.

Throupe also believes costs could continue to grow over the year due to inflation and labor costs.