Multifamily Vacancy Outside Denver Remains Flat

A household needs to earn $31,000, or $14.90 per hour, to afford the state's average rent, according to the report by Gordon Von Stroh, a University of Colorado business professor.

The survey reports on vacancy and rental information on 21 housing markets outside of the Denver area. The areas are grouped into three distinct rental markets: urban, resort and regional.

In most of the urban markets, vacancies remain high, but some are down from a year ago. Rents tend to be stable and absorption of the new rental units is positive.

However, in the resort markets, the vacancy rates have all increased from a year earlier.

One out of every three apartments sat vacant in Lake County, which includes Leadville, a small market that houses many construction workers who work in the Vail area. It's 33.3% vacancy rate compared to 13% a year earlier. However, it is up only slightly from its previous high of 32.8% last fall.

In Eagle County, which includes Vail, the average vacancy rate jumped to 20.4% from only 2% in the first quarter of 2003. But it is down substantially form the 18.1% vacancy rate in the third quarter of last year, when the last report was taken. The average rental rate in the first quarter in Eagle County was $1,018, compared with $983 in the first quarter of last year, and $1,010 in the third quarter. The median, or middle, rent was $1,000 a month.

In Aspen, the average vacancy rate was 10.4%, compared with 6.9% in the first quarter of 2003. However, it stood at 18.1% in the third quarter of last year. The average monthly rental rate was $936, compared with $1,026 a year earlier and $952 in the third quarter of last year. The median rent in the first quarter was $962.

In Steamboat Springs, the average vacancy rate was 11.6%, compared with 1.9% a year earlier, but only up slightly from the 11.3% in the third quarter last year. The average rental rate in Steamboat was $654, compared with $788 a year earlier and $700 in the third quarter of 2003. The median rent was $661.

Vacancy rates in Summit County, which includes Keystone, Copper Mountain and Breckenridge, were little changed at 7.4%, compared with 5% a year earlier and 7.3% in the third quarter of last year. SummitCounty rents rose to $834 in the first quarter from $769 a year earlier and $771 in the third quarter of 2003.

The median rent in the first quarter in Summit County was $805.