Report: Denver’s cheapest apartments have the fastest-growing prices

The median rent for low-end apartments in the metro area is $1,164. That’s a 9-percent jump from 2015, the report shows.

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Apartments for rent in the Speer neighborhood. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)  speer; real estate; denver; colorado; kevinjbeaty; denverite; residential

Apartments for rent in the Speer neighborhood. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Denver’s cheapest apartments have the fastest growing prices, according to a new report from Zillow.

The median rent for low-end apartments in the metro area is $1,164. That’s a 9-percent jump from 2015, the report shows.

It’s a classic supply-and-demand issue driving up rents.

“Very high demand at the low end of the market is being met with more supply at the high end, an imbalance that will only contribute to growing affordability concerns for all renters,” Zillow chief economist Svenja Gudell said in a statement.

Denver was one of three metros Zillo looked at with the smallest percentage of low-end construction built after 2014, the report states.

Overall, Zillow found that low-end apartment costs were increasing in 15 major metros from Seattle to Miami. Over the past year, 11 of the 15 housing markets saw double-digit rent appreciation among low-end apartments.

Denver’s low-end housing is still more affordable than what’s available in metros along the West Coast and Miami, D.C. and Boston.

But it might be easier for those looking for inexpensive housing to find an apartment in Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Tampa or Charlotte. These are all places where the median rent for low-end apartments is lower than in Denver.

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