The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Denver was $1,351 in May, down slightly from the previous month and from pre-pandemic May 2019, according to the online real estate company Apartment List.
Apartment List uses data from both the Census and its own listings for its calculations. Apartment List found that rents fell 0.4 percent over April and last May in Denver, but increased in cities such as Phoenix, by 2.3 percent to $1,104; Austin, by 1.3 percent over the year to $1,461; and Seattle, by 1.2 percent to $1,688.
Apartment List said some landlords across the country were beginning to lower prices in response to the economic impact of COVID-19, but most seemed to be holding off on significant discounts for now.
Zumper, another online real estate company, looks at its own listings in 100 cities across the country. Zumper put the median rent for a Denver apartment at $1,860 in May, flat over April but down 4.6 percent over the year.
Zumper sees the pandemic shifting demand from expensive cities such as San Francisco, where the median rent for a two-bedroom fell 1.8 percent to $4,420 in May, "as more and more companies move into remote work, many renters don't want to pay the big city price tag when they are unable to use the amenities and are looking for more affordable options outside of large, metropolitan areas."
