Colorado Springs apartment rent prices seeing “historic” increases

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - If you’re looking to rent an apartment, you may notice the high prices.

The University of Denver has done a yearly report of rent and vacancies in Colorado cities for 35 years. Comparing the 2020 to 2021 first two quarters, the rent has gone up roughly $183.11, which experts say is the largest increase in the history of the report.

“This is unprecedented. It’s not even close. It’s not a matter of near the top again, it’s way over the top in historics,” said Dr. Ron Throupe, associate professor of real estate at the Daniels College of Business.

Experts believe there is a combination of things causing this increase, including the ending of some COVID-19 restrictions, a lack of housing choice as the inventory of single-family homes is low and rising house prices.

“We know Colorado Springs is more up and coming, and so we shouldn’t be shocked that it looks like it’s more up and coming than we thought,” said Throupe.

Experts say more people were moving south from Denver into Castle Rock and Colorado Springs in recent years due to cheaper rents and a different lifestyle.

“It’s also an extension of a trend we’ve seen around the country where some major city cores are not growing anymore, or at least that’s the impression coming out of COVID, where there’s a lot of attraction to secondary cities,” said Throupe.

The data reports a quarterly decrease in vacancy to 4.4% from 5.0% with a 0.1% decrease from 4.5% year over year. Experts say the vacancy rate at 4.4% shows a tight market, and there were only 94 units added to inventory this quarter.