Denver Rents Fell Back to 2022 Levels. Here’s What That Does to the Rent-Versus-Buy Math.

By Prerna Kapoor, CLHMS | REAL Brokerage | August 11, 2026

The average asking rent across metro Denver is $1,758 a month. That is the same figure this market posted in the first quarter of 2022, dollar for dollar, four years ago. Rents here have been falling for two years straight, and most of the renters I talk to have not really registered what that means for their own decision yet.

What Actually Happened to Denver Rents

The short version is that a lot of apartments got built. More than 70,000 new units came online across metro Denver in five years, pushing the total apartment count up 18 percent to roughly 452,591. This market normally absorbs about 10,000 new rentals a year. In 2024 it got nearly 20,000, and another 15,330 landed last year. Supply outran demand, and prices did what prices do.

Average asking rent dropped 3.4 percent year over year to $1,758, according to the Apartment Association of Metro Denver’s quarterly rent and vacancy report. Concessions hit a record $180 a month in savings, which works out to an effective rent closer to $1,580. Plenty of buildings are still handing out one to three months free on a new lease. Denver finished last year third in the country for the steepest drop in effective rents, behind only Colorado Springs and Austin.

The Buying Side Did Not Move the Same Way

Here is where the two markets split. The 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 6.69 percent in the first week of August, per Freddie Mac’s weekly survey, up from 6.66 percent the week before and 6.63 percent a year ago. Rates have been sitting in the same narrow band for months. They have not come down the way rents have.

Prices held too. The combined median close price across Denver metro was $605,000 in July, up 2.95 percent from a year earlier even after a small seasonal dip from June. Detached homes came in at a median of $660,000. So the monthly cost of renting fell, the monthly cost of owning did not, and the gap between the two is wider than it has been in years.

Condos and Townhomes Are Where the Two Markets Meet

The one part of the for-sale market that behaved like the rental market is the attached side. Condos and townhomes across the metro had a median close price of $380,000 in July, down 2.56 percent both from June and from last July. They sat a median of 40 days before going under contract, more than double the 17 days detached homes needed. The attached segment is carrying close to 5.7 months of supply, which is squarely buyer’s-market territory. I went through how differently the condo market behaved in July if you want that breakdown.

This matters because condos and townhomes are the segment that competes most directly with a two-bedroom apartment. If you are weighing renting against buying at the entry level, you are looking at the one corner of the market where sellers are the ones with something to prove. That is a real change from three years ago, and I wrote about why the attached market opened up earlier this year.

How I Would Actually Run the Numbers

Most rent-versus-buy comparisons are built so they produce the answer somebody already wanted. Here is what I ask clients to put on paper instead.

Start with your real all-in monthly cost of owning, not just principal and interest. Add property taxes, insurance, HOA dues if there are any, mortgage insurance if you are under 20 percent down, and a maintenance number you would actually spend. On a $380,000 condo at 6.69 percent with 10 percent down, that usually lands somewhere between $2,700 and $3,100 once dues and mortgage insurance are in, and HOA dues vary enormously building to building. Then compare that to your effective rent, not your asking rent. If you have a free month baked into your lease, count it. Our mortgage calculator gets you the payment piece in about a minute.

The number that usually decides it is not the monthly difference. It is how long you plan to stay. Buying costs real money to enter and real money to exit, and if you are out in under three or four years, the math rarely works no matter how the monthly payments compare. The Colorado Buyer Financing Playbook walks through the down payment and closing cost side in more detail.

What This Means Depending on Your Timeline

I have had a handful of conversations this summer with renters in Aurora and Centennial who read the cheap rent as a signal to keep waiting. Sometimes it is. If your renewal came back flat or lower, and you are not sure you are still in Colorado past next year, renting another year is a defensible call and I will tell you so.

If you know you are staying, the picture changes. Concessions almost never survive the first renewal, so the $1,580 you are effectively paying now is not the number you will see in month 13. Meanwhile the attached market is giving buyers negotiating room and seller-paid costs that were nowhere near the table in 2022. Those two conditions do not often show up at the same time, and I would not assume this particular window stays open indefinitely.

Quick answers

Are Denver rents still falling? The steepest declines look like they are behind us. Average asking rent was down 3.4 percent year over year but barely moved from the prior quarter, and some property managers have started pulling concessions back on their better-occupied buildings.

Is it cheaper to rent or buy in Denver right now? On a pure monthly basis, renting is cheaper almost everywhere in the metro at current rates. Buying wins when you hold long enough for equity and a fixed payment to outrun rising rent, which usually means at least four or five years.

Why are condo prices falling when house prices are not? Supply. Attached inventory sits near 5.7 months while detached is under three, so condo and townhome sellers are competing much harder for a smaller pool of buyers.

Prerna Kapoor | REALTOR® | Luxury Home Specialist
REAL Brokerage | 720-949-5450 | info@prernakapoor.com
CLHMS • RENE • PSA • ABR | International Sterling Society Award Winner

Prerna specializes in residential real estate across Parker, Aurora, Lone Tree, Castle Pines, Highlands Ranch, Cherry Creek, Greenwood Village, and Centennial. She speaks English, Japanese, and Hindi.