Housing News Digest, July 26

Denver-area apartment vacancies at 10-year low
That rate was 21 percent lower than the 6.1 percent vacancy rate for the second quarter of 2010, and also lower than the 5.5 percent rate for the first quarter of this year.

“Once the market hits that 5 percent level, that’s generally the equilibrium level,” said Gordon Von Stroh, report author and professor of business at the University of DenverbizWatch.

Senior housing project receives grant
LAFAYETTE - A senior housing project in Lafayette will receive a $550,000 grant from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs.

The Boulder County Housing Authority will receive the money for its Josephine Commons project, which will build 44 one-bedroom units and 30 two-bedroom units.

Metro-area apartment vacancies hit 10-year low, pushing rents up
The rents at Green's complex have soared — anywhere from $110 to $135 a month more than what she paid.

She has friends from the Crested Butte/Gunnison area who recently wanted to move to Denver. But rental rates have risen so much they can't afford it.

Green's analysis is supported by a report released Monday that said apartment vacancies in the metro area have fallen to a 10-year low in the second quarter of 2011, with a vacancy rate of 4.8 percent.

Boulder, Denver metro rental vacancies at 10-year-low
Boulder and Broomfield counties -- considered in the report as one market -- posted a vacancy rate of 4.6 percent and average monthly rents of $1,016.15, the highest in the six-county metro area. The Boulder region had a vacancy rate of 4.9 percent during the comparable quarter last year, and its average monthly rent was $995.07.

The Boulder region's multifamily market, like much of the rental market in the surrounding Denver metro area, grew more constricted as a result of pressures from the economic downturn, a population boom among young adults and in-migration, said Gordon Von Stroh, professor of management at the University of Denver and an author of the quarterly report.

CMU feeling the housing pinch
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - Colorado Mesa University continues to grow each year but with high enrollment, the college is having to rethink and redistribute housing for incoming students.

Freshman year of college is an exciting but nerve-racking experience--especially if you have no where to live.

"It's totally possible we'll have every student-- have a room for every student on opening day,” says Vice President for Student Services John Marshall.