It’s no secret that rental rates in Denver are sky-high, and the multi-family apartment industry is booming. According to one study, 7,749 multi-family residential units have come online in the downtown area alone since the start of 2010, and an additional 5,039 units are currently under construction.
But some reports indicate that the red-hot rental market might be showing some initial signs of a cool down. Given the seasonal swings inherent to the apartment market, a one-percent decline in rental rates in the month of December isn’t exactly earth-shattering, but another study found that the rate of increase for apartment rents in Denver dropped by over two percent from 2014 to 2015.
Perhaps more telling than rental rates are the discounts and other incentives that new apartment buildings are handing out with new rental agreements. Such incentives typically include some combination of between two and six weeks of free rent, discounts or gifts of up to $1,000, and free parking. These incentives are considerably more generous than in years past—as a former resident of one of the buildings listed in the survey, I can confirm that I did not receive the choice of a iRobot vacuum cleaner or a bundle of appliances (including a KitchenAid mixer, a Keurig coffee maker and a margarita mixer) that one building is offering to new residents as part of its move-in package!
It remains to be seen whether these trends are real indicators of change or merely seasonal blips.