The residential rental market continues with a high inventory of available rentals, forcing rent into play as the key factor to attract and retain tenants. The number of single family homes that are vacant increased by 1.7% or 14, 323 homes in the Denver area between 2000 and 2003. The vacancy rate for all rental homes was 7.54% in the first quarter of 2003, as compared to 5.63% in the previous quarter. The Denver metro area?s apartment vacancy rate is 13.7%, which is the highest since 1987. The glut of available rentals is a result of a number of factors: low interest rates over the past six months that enticed many renters to buy homes rather than rent; new construction dumped many new apartments on the market over the last few years; and job losses forced renters to move out of the state or in with parents or friends. (Denver Post, June 22, 2003).
Commentary: We are now in the peak rental season. This season still shows a much larger number of rentals available from last year at this time (756 in 7/02 vs. 1,330 in 7/03). The good news is that we are seeing a significant number of people looking for rentals. We are seeing the number of showing up substantially over just a few weeks ago. By pricing the properties correctly we expect to have everything rented in the near future.
