You know, if home prices increase enough, renting will be cheaper than buying a home in Denver.

So this renter is intrigued to hear that Denver home values have increased 10.4 percent while city rents have only risen 3.3 percent, according to Zillow.

Denver’s increase in home values is just shy of double the national average 5.5 percent over the past year, according to Zillow’s calculation of the 35 largest metropolitan areas. But our fair city had home values increases below Portland, Seattle and Dallas.

Yes, home values aren’t quite the same as home prices, but Zillow says that their estimate reflects what “the median sale price of the whole area would be if every home were sold on the same day.”

As for rents, Seattle and Portland saw the increases over the same period, with 9.3 percent and 7 percent respectively, according to Zillow’s calculations. Allow me to share a faint glimmer of hope and tell you that Denver’s rent increased only the 14th fastest.

Here’s a bit more on Denver’s cost of living compared to other cities.