If you’re looking to rent an apartment anywhere from Boulder to Colorado Springs and find a great price difficult to find, you’re not the only one.

As a background, the Denver market needs to add about 4,500 units each year just to keep up with normal growth.

The rental market is in high demand because

• With job uncertainty, many aren’t ready to purchase a home if they may lose their job or get their next job too far from this home.
• New renters include some of the 35k high school graduates each year
• In the past year and a half, 130k people moved to our state without a job lined up but will nonetheless need a place to live.

John Rebchook, the author of InsideRealEstateNews.com has recently reported vacancy rates in several articles.  With only a limited supply with increased demand, higher rents are seen across the state. Here’s a culmination by area:

Boulder:

As previously reported by InsideRealEstateNews, the overall vacancy rate for rental homes in the Denver area is a record-low 1.4 percent. In the Broomfield/Boulder corridor, the vacancy rate is zero. Median rents in an article dated May 24th were:  Boulder/Broomfield, $1535

Denver Metro:

During the second quarter of 2011, the median rent in metro Denver rose to $863.37, increasing 2.5 percent from 2010’s second-quarter median rent of $842.70. Full article

Colorado Springs:

Rebchook wrote, ‘The average rent in the Colorado Springs metro area hit a new high during the second quarter of 2011, climbing 5.5 percent, year over year, to $759, according to a report released today by the Colorado Division of Housing and the Apartment Association of Southern Colorado.’  Article

Are you ready to get out of the renting game? 8z Real Estate has brokers across Colorado. Start browsing Denver, Boulder and Colorado Springs real estate online.

A fresh start to a new year and all the talk is-is the market up? Is the market down?  As I wrote on my real estate blog Denver metro real estate closings were up in December 2010, but under contracts were down on month-to-month and year-to-year comparisons.

No matter how stable or unstable you think the market is – there are several factors that can influence our front range economy in 2011.

One of the most important are Jobs

It’s all the talk on the news.  Job growth, and companies moving to Colorado will positively impact the metro area.  Not only does it bring more buyers to the Denver metro market, but gives residents the stability and security to purchase a home.

In 2011 the purchase of Qwest will be complete that could pull jobs away from the metro area.  Certainly it is in the forefront of Mayors and Governor on how to make Colorado and cities attractive for companies to come to Colorado…  As we get new news, I’ll be sure to update you!

It’s December and it’s about time to start recapping 2010 and making our predictions for 2011.  The final weeks of the year are always worthwhile as families gather at home for the holidays.  Some families continue annual traditions in their home and some are starting new ones in a new residence.

For months now, real estate experts have been talking about the bottom of the real estate market.  Answering the common question: ‘Have we hit it?’

While the stats vary from area to area within Colorado, as you would not expect Denver real estate to be the same as Grand Junction, Boulder or Fort Collins.

In general however many real estate experts saw a lot of activity in the first half of the year as first time buyers looking to close on their home before the tax credit expired.  These home buyers will be spending their first Christmas and New Year in their home without restrictions from landlords about adding a few extra holes to hold up the decorations.  These buyers will spend at least two more holiday seasons in this home to fulfill the residency requirements of the tax credit.

Other homeowners may be less fortunate and are spending the holidays away from their once home.  Recently Colorado foreclosure data has improved.

For those who are no longer in their homes or are reluctant to begin homeownership, rental vacancy rates have decreased this year in Denver and Boulder.

No matter wherever you may be celebrating the holidays and ending 2010 at, HighRGround and 8zRealEstate wishes you Happy Holidays.

University of Denver

If there’s a way to see the good in everything, it’s especially easy to find goodness on both the buy and sell side in Denver.  Today, we’ll discuss why while focusing on the DU (University of Denver), Platt Park, and Wellshire Heights neighborhoods.

First Things First:

The University, Platt Park, and Wellshire Heights communities are south of Denver, minutes from downtown, just off I-25.  For a few years, there was some discomfort experienced by residents and commuters passing through this portion of town due to the T-REX light rail project, but just about everyone agrees that the inconvenience was going toward the greater good of a state-of-the-art public transportation system, the likes of which Denver has sorely been in need of since, well, ever. T-REX construction was completed in 2006, and is considered a success for joining business and commuting epicenters Downtown Denver and the Denver Tech Center and Centennial.

On the plus side for buyers:

• These neighborhoods boast reasonable prices, with an average home price of $250,000, which is also the state-wide average.
• Trends indicate price reductions–prices are down 5-10%
• There are more sellers than buyers

Good for sellers:

• Homes remain on the market for a reasonable length of time–about 90-120 days. Compared with other parts of the country, it’s a livable length of time.
• Most sellers receive multiple offers
• Nearby communities, such as Wash Park and Bonnie Brae are experiencing an upswing in activity and prices

Check in later this year, when we’ll revisit this area, to witness forthcoming trends following the summer season wrap-up. Until then, look for more good news.

The Denver Business Journal recently reported that many sources of statewide and local housing information provide data that sometimes conflicts. Those data sources include local public entities, such as the Colorado Division of Housing; private compilers, such as Metrolist Inc.; and national companies, such as foreclosure specialist RealtyTrac Inc. of Irvine, Calif.

With over 80% of Buyers starting their search online, consumers thirst for data, correct data. It’s not always easy to determine whether data is accurate, or if it only appears to be accurate. However, there are some things to look out for when you are looking through housing statistics.

• Consistency — Data for regularly published reports should be from the same sources and use the same guidelines, so it can be accurately compared over time.
• Representation — The more representative the data, the more revealing about a market it is. Colorado’s housing division, for example, regularly includes all sizes of apartment complexes in its quarterly apartment vacancy and rent surveys, rather than just the largest properties other reports use.
• Definition of terminology/clarification — Reports about home-sale prices, for example, should specify whether those prices are average or median.

The Colorado state housing division started compiling its own quarterly foreclosure reports in 2006, because it disputes RealtyTrac’s Colorado foreclosure data. RealtyTrac double- or triple-counts its local information because of how foreclosures are reported in this state, according to Colorado officials.

• Geography — Geographic areas such as metro Denver need to be specified. Some real estate researchers use the seven-county metro area (Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties), as defined by state and local agencies. Others employ the 10 counties of the census bureau’s Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area (the seven metro-area counties excluding Boulder County, but including Clear Creek, Elbert, Gilpin and Park counties).

More than likely, any time you see an aggregate of data, you need to verify some of the above-mentioned indicators to determine how solid the information is. More than likely, aggregate data providers are not attempting to lead people astray, rather, there are a number of moving parts and parameters that need to be taken into account to interpret the data appropriately.