Colorado's Rising Housing Prices Are Driving Residents Away

In 2016, the number of Coloradans leaving their home state for better job prospects and more affordable cost-of-living elsewhere hit a record high, and the number of people moving into Colorado dropped for the first time this decade.

Washington state is the top destination for those migrating from Colorado, gaining a net 8,528 residents from Colorado in 2016. Alternately, the only state with residents moving to Colorado in big numbers is Illinois, with a net gain of 8,112. According to The Denver Post, the drop in net migration may have affected Colorado’s unemployment rate which decreased to a record-low 2.3 percent this spring.

Home prices in metro Denver are up 57 percent the past eight years through October, as measured by the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price indices, while the average apartment rent since mid-2009 is up 63.6 percent, according to rent figures from the Apartment Association of Metro Denver.

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