Boulder Valley Re/Con: Despite COVID volatility, Boulder rental market stands firm

BOULDER — The coronavirus has shaken up many aspects of life in the Boulder area, from shutting down restaurants and bars to forcing University of Colorado students to take all of their classes remotely. One thing the virus has yet to disrupt is the region’s residential rental market. 

“A little more data is going to be necessary, but right now it seems to be pretty stable,” PG Rentals LLC owner Todd Ulrich said during a panel discussion Thursday at BizWest’s annual Boulder Valley Real Estate Conference.

Average vacancy and rent collection rates in Boulder remain above 90%, roughly on par with pre-pandemic figures. 

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“When you consider all the bad news, those really aren’t bad numbers at all,”  Boulder Property Network broker Duane Duggan said. 

The rental market is standing tall despite CU suspending in-person learning and ending the fall semester earlier than in past years. 

Because students often secured leases prior to the pandemic and can’t simply break those leases, the virus has “certainly increased the need and desire for subletting,” CU off-campus housing director Jeff Morris said. 

Despite much of campus being shut down, many students have opted to remain in Boulder during the fall semester, he said. That wasn’t necessarily the case in the spring. 

CU expects to offer in-person classes in the spring semester, and Morris expects students to be back in Boulder.

The same goes for the 2021 school season.

“We don’t see housing interest slowing down at all; we actually see it increasing” for the fall 2021 semester, Morris said. 

Like college students who left campus early, leaseholders of corporate apartment units must look to sublease, Housing Helpers Colorado owner Stephanie Iannone said. Luckily, traveling nurses brought to the area to help treat local COVID-19 patients often filled those vacancies quickly. 

“Considering it’s a pandemic, the rental vacancy rate has been pretty steady,” she said.

The biggest difference Iannone has noticed is the lack of international students renting apartments in Boulder. 

Another trend has been the increased popularity of larger, single-family home rentals. These appeal to families and work-from-home professionals looking for more space, she said.

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