Denver landlords are making deals to entice renters to move into empty apartments.
Incentives, such as free rent, are at a 15-year high, according to a new report from the Apartment Association of Metro Denver. Landlords are trying to fill units after a building boom in recent years left a glut of space to fill.
“It’s good news for (soon-to-be renters) to see so many opportunities. Several communities are offering great discounts, including a few weeks of free rent on top of falling rates,” Mark Williams, executive vice president of Denver’s apartment association, said in a statement accompanying the report. “It’s truly the best time for new renters to move into an apartment.”
The effective rent, which is the rate people are paying after concessions are baked in, averaged $1,709 per month during the third quarter, according to the report. That compares to $1,874 per month two years ago. Average rents started falling at the end of last year, the association’s data show. They are now the lowest they’ve been in more than three years.
Boulder and Broomfield counties have the lowest vacancy rate in the region at 5.1 percent. Arapahoe County, with a 7.4 percent vacancy rate, has the highest.
Construction of new apartment buildings has slowed way down from the peak in mid-2023. That should lead to fewer empty apartments becoming available, which will eventually lead to rents stabilizing, according to the report.
The metro area vacancy rate is already down a little bit from earlier this year.
“As vacancy continues to fall, it appears the peak has been reached,” Scott Rathbun, a researcher with Apartment Insights who authored the report, said in the statement.
