Multifamily Rental Construction Drops Again

DENVER-As expected, apartment construction activity in the metro area continues to fall. In the first four months of the year, the latest figures available from the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Denver, there were 7,868 permits issued in the seven-county area that also includes more than 25 separate municipalities.

That’s an 18% drop from the 9,600 permits issued during the same time last year.

Multifamily activity in April dropped even more dramatically, to 1,322 permits from 2,999 in April 2000.

Developers pulled a near-record amount of permits last year because of fears that voters might approve a growth amendment. Instead, the constitutional amendment was soundly defeated.

Also, municipalities make it difficult for developers to build apartments.

Some communities, through April, have seen their activity drop by more than half. In Denver, for example, only 642 permits were issued in the first four months of this year, compared with 1,213 last year. And in Douglas County, the nation’s fastest growing county in the ’90s, posted only 998 permits, compared with 1,976 in 2000.