In recent weeks, we reported that metro Denver rents had hit new heights, with no end in sight. But the scale of these increases remains surprising, and worrisome, too. Indeed, a new report reveals that the price of renting a one-bedroom apartment in Denver went up by a higher percentage from month to month than in any other city in the country.
This bad news is contained in the August rent report from Zumper, which notes that the Denver rate hike is an outlier from a national perspective.
Across the country, one-bedroom rents actually decreased by 0.1 percent from June to July, the most recent month for which data is available — although U.S. rent for both one- and two-bedrooms remains up year over year by about 3 percent.
The story's different in Denver, where one-bedroom rent costs climbed, and climbed a lot, over the same period of time. The June-to-July increase was 4.9 percent.
That's not to say that the price tag in the Mile High tops that of every other community included in the analysis. The average price for a one-bedroom landed at $1,500, which moved Denver up six spots, to the sixteenth position.
That sum is less than half of the $3,500 per month the average one-bedroom is currently going for in San Francisco. Other ultra-steep one-bedroom rents can be found in San Jose ($2,550), Boston ($2,340) and Los Angeles ($2,330).
But if the bottom line is a little less daunting than it seems at first blush, the speed with which one-bedroom rents are rising in Denver suggests that the market correction so many folks have been eagerly anticipating is still a ways off.
Continue to count down the top 25 cities in the Zumper survey, ranked according to the percentage change in one-bedroom rents on a month-to-month basis. As you'll see, more than half of the communities — thirteen, to be precise — showed no rent increase from June to July or saw costs actually go down.
Number 1. Providence, Rhode Island
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,370
Month-to-month percentage change: -4.9 percent
Number 2. New Orleans, Louisiana
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,340
Month-to-month percentage change: -4.3 percent
Number 3. Honolulu, Hawaii
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,660
Month-to-month percentage change: -2.4 percent
Number 4. Minneapolis, Minnesota
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,390
Month-to-month percentage change: -2.1 percent
Number 5. Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,500
Month-to-month percentage change: -2.0 percent
Number 6. Seattle, Washignton
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,960
Month-to-month percentage change: -1.5 percent
Number 7. Los Angeles, California
Median price for a one-bedroom: $2,330
Month-to-month percentage change: -1.3 percent
Number 8. Miami, Florida
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,780
Month-to-month percentage change: -1.1 percent
Number 9. Long Beach, California
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,600
Month-to-month percentage change: -0.6 percent
Number 10. Washington, D.C.
Median price for a one-bedroom: $2,150
Month-to-month percentage change: -0.5 percent
Number 11 (tie). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,500
Month-to-month percentage change: 0.0 percent
Number 11 (tie). Oakland, California
Median price for a one-bedroom: $2,100
Month-to-month percentage change: 0.0 percent
Number 11 (tie). San Francisco, California
Median price for a one-bedroom: $3,500
Month-to-month percentage change: 0.0 percent
Number 14 (tie). Portland, Oregon
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,470
Month-to-month percentage change: +0.7 percent
Number 14 (tie). Chicago, Illinois
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,510
Month-to-month percentage change: +0.7 percent
Number 16. Boston, Massachusetts
Median price for a one-bedroom: $2,340
Month-to-month percentage change: +0.9 percent
Number 17 (tie). Atlanta, Georgia
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,460
Month-to-month percentage change: +1.4 percent
Number 17 (tie). New York, New York
Median price for a one-bedroom: $2,900
Month-to-month percentage change: +1.4 percent
Number 19. San Diego, California
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,850
Month-to-month percentage change: +1.6 percent
Number 20. San Jose, California
Median price for a one-bedroom: $2,550
Month-to-month percentage change: +2.8 percent
Number 21. Nashville, Tennessee
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,370
Month-to-month percentage change: +3.0 percent
Number 22. Anaheim, California
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,680
Month-to-month percentage change: +3.7 percent
Number 23. Baltimore, Maryland
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,380
Month-to-month percentage change: +3.8 percent
Number 24. Santa Ana, California
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,770
Month-to-month percentage change: +4.7 percent
Number 25. Denver, Colorado
Median price for a one-bedroom: $1,500
Month-to-month percentage change: +4.9 percent