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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nextrade! who wrote (911)	11/6/2001 8:04:47 AM
From: nextrade!	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

More apartments standing empty, rockymountainnews.com Vacancies climb in survey that has been tracking state figures since the mid-1990s By John Rebchook, News Staff Writer Apartment vacancy rates in Aspen and Summit County rose to an apparent record high of 4.4 percent, and Colorado Springs' almost doubled to 5.4 percent, according to a report released Monday. Overall, the apartment vacancy in the state rose to 4.5 percent from 3.2 percent in February, the last time the report was conducted for the Colorado Division of Housing. The Colorado Multi-Family Housing Rental and Vacancy Survey tracks the apartment market outside the Denver metro area. The average rent rose to $785 from $753. That means an annual income of $31,500, or $15.15 per hour, is needed to afford an average apartment. The study by University of Denver business professor Gordon Von Stroh doesn't track the median rent for the state. The overall vacancy rate for rural and ski resort areas is still much lower than the 11-year high of 6.8 percent for the Denver metro area. Although Aspen's vacancy rate of 4.4 percent would be considered strong in most cities, it typically has a vacancy rate of 1 percent or less. Its previous high since Von Stroh began tracking the state in 1995 was 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 1998. In the past, Summit County's vacancy rate has ranged from a low of 0.3 percent to a high of 3.2 percent. "I think September has got a great deal to do with it," said Tom Hart, director of the Colorado Division of Housing. "September 11 has an impact on tourists and travelers to the mountains." Jamie Fitzpatrick of Denver's Corum Group has developed or managed 1,200 to 1,500 units in the mountains. Corum has completed both subsidized and market-rate projects. "I think the market remains tight," Fitzpatrick said. "We haven't seen much of a drop in our occupancies." He said he was surprised by the high vacancy rate in Aspen, and said its possible that high vacancies in one or two large apartment complexes may be skewing the overall numbers. Von Stroh noted that most of the state has a vacancy rate below 5 percent, which is generally considered a market in equilibrium. And even in Colorado Springs, the rate was only 5.4 percent, although that was almost twice the 2.8 percent in the two previous tracking periods. November 6, 2001