Denver area ranks as third most competitive rental market in the West

The Denver area ranks as the third most competitive large rental market in the West behind Salt Lake City and Tucson, Ariz., blowing past Phoenix and Las Vegas.

A new report by apartment search website Rent Cafe points to the market’s scant availability of rentals, with prospective tenants usually vying against eight others for a place to live – a statistic that’s on par with the U.S. average of nine people per empty rental. Apartments are typically snagged off of the market within 42 days.

Denver’s occupancy rate is close to 94%, even though recent months have seen an almost 0.5% jump in new apartments, according to the report.

More than half of Denver tenants, 56%, renewed their leases this season.

Out of the small Western markets, Montana takes the top ranking, followed by Albuquerque, N.M., at No. 2, Boise, Idaho, at No. 3, Wyoming at No. 4 and Colorado Springs at No. 5. Montana and Wyoming are considered single markets.

The news comes as Denver’s average apartment rent is $1,967, with an apartment’s size spanning 839 square feet on average, the website reports.

And the need for affordable housing continues to grow. On Tuesday, Crosswinds at Arista at 11697 Destination Dr. in Broomfield held its grand opening of almost 160 new homes targeting low-income households.

Coloradans are most worried about the cost of living and inflation, followed closely by housing affordability, according to the fourth annual Colorado Health Foundation Pulse Poll.

“In a three-year span, housing costs have spread from the concern of local workers in mountain resort communities to a top-tier statewide issue,” said Lori Weigel, Republican pollster for Pulse and principal of research firm New Bridge Strategy. “In every region of the state – from the Eastern Plains to the Front Range to the Western Slope – and with virtually every single demographic group, the cost of living and cost of housing are the great uniters as the top-of-mind concerns.”