Welcome to the September 2018 Denver Rent Report. Denver rents increased over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the Denver rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.
View full Denver Rent Report
Welcome to the September 2018 Denver Rent Report. Denver rents increased over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the Denver rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.
Denver rents have increased 0.2% over the past month, but have remained steady at 0.1% in comparison to the same time last year. Currently, median rents in Denver stand at $1,070 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,350 for a two-bedroom. This is the seventh straight month that the city has seen rent increases after a decline in January. Denver's year-over-year rent growth lags the state average of 0.4%, as well as the national average of 1.0%.
While rents have remained steady in the city of Denver throughout the past year, cities across the metro have seen a different trend. Rents have risen in 8 of of the largest 10 cities in the Denver metro for which we have data. Here's a look at how rents compare across some of the largest cities in the metro.
Rent growth in Denver has been relatively stable over the past year - some other large cities have seen more substantial increases; in contrast, rents in a few cities have actually declined. Denver is still more affordable than most similar cities across the country.
| City | Median 1BR price | Median 2BR price | M/M price change | Y/Y price change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver | $1,070 | $1,350 | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| Aurora | $1,240 | $1,560 | 0.4% | -0.8% |
| Thornton | $1,470 | $1,860 | 0.2% | 2.6% |
| Arvada | $1,210 | $1,530 | -0.6% | 1.3% |
| Westminster | $1,270 | $1,610 | 0.1% | 1.9% |
| Broomfield | $1,370 | $1,720 | 0.6% | 3.2% |
| Castle Rock | $1,380 | $1,750 | -1.2% | 2.1% |
| Parker | $1,490 | $1,880 | 0.9% | -0.4% |
| Littleton | $1,470 | $1,870 | 0.1% | 1.6% |
| Brighton | $1,250 | $1,590 | -1.6% | 4.3% |
| Englewood | $1,200 | $1,520 | -0.5% | -0.4% |
| Wheat Ridge | $1,020 | $1,290 | -0.1% | 2.2% |
| Golden | $1,240 | $1,560 | 0.0% | -0.9% |
| Lone Tree | $1,580 | $2,000 | -0.7% | -2.7% |
Data from private listing sites, including our own, tends to skew toward luxury apartments, which introduces sample bias when estimates are calculated directly from these listings. To address these limitations, we’ve recently made major updates to our methodology, which we believe have greatly improved the accuracy and reliability of our estimates.
Read more about our new methodology below, or see a more detailed post here.
Apartment List is committed to making our rent estimates the best and most accurate available. To do this, we start with reliable median rent statistics from the Census Bureau, then extrapolate them forward to the current month using a growth rate calculated from our listing data. In doing so, we use a same-unit analysis similar to Case-Shiller’s approach, comparing only units that are available across both time periods to provide an accurate picture of rent growth in cities across the country.
Our approach corrects for the sample bias inherent in other private sources, producing results that are much closer to statistics published by the Census Bureau and HUD. Our methodology also allows us to construct a picture of rent growth over an extended period of time, with estimates that are updated each month.
Read more about our methodology here.
Apartment List publishes monthly reports on rental trends for hundreds of cities across the U.S. We intend these reports to be a source of reliable information that help renters and policymakers make sound decisions, and we invest significant time and effort in gathering and analyzing rent data. Our work is covered regularly by journalists across the country.
We are continuously working to improve our methodology and data, with the goal of providing renters with the information that they need to make the best decisions.
