It may seem strange at first, but believe it or not, many Denver apartments are renting at more affordable prices than most apartments spread out across the Metro Area, making Denver cheaper than the suburbs surrounding it. How you ask? It all comes down to one main factor.
Age Before Amenities
Many buildings in the downtown area are just older, some even upwards of 100 years older. The median rent for 2-bedroom apartments in the Denver area landed at about $1300 per month, which is surprisingly cheaper than just about every other suburb in the metro area, including Littleton, Aurora, and Castle Rock to name a few. Room for new growth is limited in these older downtown neighborhoods, making the outlying areas of the city more attractive to new apartment developers looking to break ground in the Mile High City. And these new builds have one thing that the older buildings just can’t accommodate: new amenities. You won’t find brand new pools, hot tubs, lazy rivers, wine coolers, pet spas and more in the older buildings of downtown Denver.
Now there is a catch. Take the brand new builds in the heart of downtown that offer all of the same luxury amenities as many of the newer apartments in the suburbs and you’ll see prices soar, with renters paying more to live in Downtown Denver versus Aurora or Castle Rock, but it all comes down to the amenities offered.
A Change in the Air
One other factor is just the shift of people looking to live somewhere a little less busy. Downtown Denver is congested, loud, and piled with traffic, so unless you live within walking distance to work, it can quickly lose its appeal, especially after doing it for a few years. As needs change, so, too, does the locale people look to live in, and as interest shifts away from downtown, prices quickly begin to reflect that change.
Check out Greg Bacheller’s interview on Channel 7 discussing these trends!
