The U. S. Commerce Department reported solid economic growth in the first quarter of 2004, increasing at an annual rate of 4.2 percent. Consumer, business and defense spending contributed to the growth, which was a slight improvement over the end of last year. (The Denver Post, April 30, 2004).

The Labor Deparment reported that the economy grew by 308,000 jobs in March, the fastest rate of job creation since April of 2000. Outdoing forecasts, growth included strong gains in construction, retail and business services. (The Denver Post, April 3, 2004). Two weeks later, new claims for unemployment jumped by 30,000, the largest increase in 16 months. (The Denver Post, April 16, 2004).

The stock market's year long rally continued in a stall during the month of April. Mid-month, Wall Street began to fear that the Federal Reserve might hike interest rates, and the indexes lost ground through the rest of the month. (The Denver Post, April 21, 2004). A combination of those fears and others related to terrorism pushed the market lower at the end of the month.

Regional News

Colorado's top performing stocks and mutual funds in the first quarter included ACT Teleconferencing and Titanium Metals Corp. (stocks) and Janus Overseas and Invesco Energy (mutual funds). The Denver Post, April 1, 2004.

The residential rental market is showing signs of improvement. Last year at this time there were almost 1,300 rental properties being advertised in Boulder & Broomfield Counties. This year we are at 1,003 advertised rentals over an expanded area. This area now includes more of the small, eastern plains communities like Frederick and even a few in Golden. So, while there are still more rentals on the market that usual we are seeing some of the supply disappear. This is not enough of a change to move rents up but it is positive. I spoke with several market analysts and they are expecting the oversupply to be greatly diminished by next year. This is good news as this will help move rents back up again.

We are also seeing more people beginning to look for rentals. Our calls on available rentals are up almost 25% from last month. Obviously a good sign.

Boulder Noise Ordinance

The Boulder City Council is in the process of revising the city ordinances relating to noise. The changes will hold the tenants responsible for noise violations, instead of the property owners. The enforcement process is triggered by a complaint. (Dwellings, Boulder County Apartment Association, May 2004).

Boulder Ban on Upholstered Furniture

The ban on upholstered furniture on porches of Hill properties is now permanent. Originally put into place on a two year trial basis, the number of sofa-caused fires was significantly reduced. (Dwellings, Boulder County Apartment Association, May 2004).

What is a competitive rent for your property? There is no one answer for everyone. We will be working with each of our clients to determine how their property should be priced in this market. Please contact us if you have specific questions or want more information.

We are actively working to grow the business and to add new properties to our management inventory. If you know someone that would be interested in our services please send them our way. We pay referral fees to anyone referring us business!

That wraps things up for this month. Again, if you do not want to receive these messages please call or email us and we will take you off this mailing list.

This newsletter is a compilation of news and information regarding the rental markets in Boulder and Broomfield counties and the economic status of and outlook for the area. It is issued during the first week of the month. The sources for the data include local and regional news media, association publications and seminars, and information gathered from contacts in the property management and real estate fields. We make every effort to cite all of our sources. Should we miss one please let us know so that we can correct the omission.

Company News

We recently added new functionality to the rentals section of our website and continually seek to improve it. The address remains the same - please check it out at www.persmgt.com