Denver rates a bargain compared to suburbs

Apartments in Cherry Creek and downtown come with hefty lease rates, but on the whole Denver represents a better bargain for renters than suburbs like Parker, Castle Rock, Thornton, Littleton, Broomfield and even Brighton, according to a new report.

Apartment List pegs the median onebedroom apartment rent in Denver at $1,050 and the median two-bedroom rent at $1,320 in its May 2018 Denver Rent Report.

“Although Denver-proper has a good number of expensive luxury units in the urban core, the less desirable sections of the city with a greater share of older units keep the median rent down,” said Chris Salviati, a housing economist with the San Francisco-based apartment search site.

Wheat Ridge, another market with older apartments, shows a similar pattern. The median one-bedroom rent there is $1,020 a month and the median two-bedroom is at $1,290.

A surge in new apartment supply in Denver is also keeping downward pressure on rents, Salviati said. Denver rents are up 0.4 percent month-over-month and 1.6 percent over the past year, reversing declines seen late last year.

Castle Rock rent increases were nearly four times larger at 6 percent. The median one-bedroom rent there is now at $1,380, while the median two-bedroom rent is at $1,750, according to Apartment List.

Arvada, with rents up 4.5 percent, and Broomfield, up 4.3 percent, also were on the high end for rent gains the past year. The median one-bedroom rent in Arvada is at $1,190, while the median for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,510. In Broomfield, the median one-bedroom rent is at $1,330, while the median twobedroom rent is at $1,670, according to Apartment List.

Adams County, long considered a pocket of housing affordability, is now sporting median rents higher than other parts of the metro.

In Thornton, the median one-bedroom rent in May came in at $1,430, while the median two-bedroom rent was at $1,810. Rents there are flat over the past year. Brighton rents are up 4.4 percent, with the median for a one-bedroom at $1,250 a month, and the two-

bedroom median rent at $1,590.

The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Aurora is at $1,220, while two-bedrooms are at $1,540. Rents are rising at a 2.3 percent annual rate.

Salviati said rising rents in the suburbs reflects the mismatch between what many renters can afford and the expensive apartments developers are putting up in urban core areas, a disconnect being seen in other big cities.

Renters who can’t afford the new luxury apartments hitting the market and who don’t want the tight fit of decades-old units in the core city are often forced to look out in the suburbs, where multi-family construction has been limited the past decade.

“Most of the new construction is serving the luxury end of the market, leading many renters who are searching at mid-market price points to look to the surrounding suburbs, driving up rent growth in those areas,” he said.