The cost of renting an apartment in Denver is rising again at a pace faster than the national average, with May offering little in terms of relief for local renters, according to a new report from San Francisco-based Apartment List.
The median one-bedroom apartment rent in Denver was $1,390 last month. A two-bedroom unit ran $1,770.
That’s an increase of 3.9 percent since last year and 1.5 percent between April and May. It follows a month in which rent prices actually ticked down in Denver by 0.6 percent, according to Apartment List.
Apartment List data scientist Andrew Woo said it’s typical for rent increases to slow during the winter months before picking up again in the summer.
“I think the next few months will be telling for Denver,” Woo said. “Looking at the data, I’d expect rents to continue to rise but at a slower rate than previous years.”
This time last year, year-over-year rent increases had run in the double digits for consecutive quarters. But by the end of the summer, the frenetic pace had begun to slow as new inventory poured into the market and vacancy surged.
Median rents even dipped slightly between the third and fourth quarters of 2015, according to the Apartment Association of Metro Denver. But by first quarter 2016, rents were on the upswing again.
In May, the largest year-over-year rent increases were in the suburbs, according to Apartment List.