COLORADO SPRINGS, CO-Apartment vacancies are at a 12-year low, and more houses and condominiums are being sold in the Colorado Springs area, says the Colorado Spring Gazette. The opportunities for first-time buyers or more realistic than at any time in the last five years. And yet, apartment construction activity remains high, with several projects on the drawing board.

There are several conditions that explains why multifamily rental development will continue even as housing sales rebound, the paper says.

Times have changed, and so have demographics, industry sources tell the Gazette. Home ownership, the American Dream for many generations, does not have so strong an appeal for all of today's young adults, who are wrestling with student loan debt, willing to move to any region of the country for the right job opportunity, and sometimes disillusioned by having seen the dreams of their parents go belly-up.

Demand for apartments drove the Springs-area vacancy rate to a 12-year low of 5.4% in the second quarter, and sent average rents soaring to a record high of $807 during the same period, a 4% year-over-year increase according to the Colorado Division of Housing.

Apartment projects currently under construction will add about 800 units in the Springs area this year and a similar number in 2014, the paper said.

Click Colorado Springs Gazette to read the full story.

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