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Colorado Springs housing prices continue to rise

Posted at 2:57 PM, Sep 04, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-04 16:57:47-04

COLORADO SPRINGS – KOAA’s Caiti Blase took a moment to speak with Dr. Tatiana Bailey, director of the UCCS Economic Forum, to discuss the increase in housing prices, the average salary needed to live inside Colorado, and the disparities between the two.

During their discussion (featured in full up above), Dr. Bailey made several points as to why housing costs inside Colorado Springs increased so much:

  • Increased demand
  • Housing costs are relatively low compared to Denver and surrounding areas
  • Increase in cost of labor and materials
  • Economic upturn in Colorado Springs since 2014

According to Dr. Bailey, last year alone, the average price of single-family housing in Colorado Springs increased by 11%, “Which is about double the national average,” she stated.

“For lease rates,” she continued, “it really varies depending on what type of unit you’re looking at, but we’ve seen at least that amount of appreciation in terms of rental units.”

The problem with this, according to Dr. Bailey, is that “Wages have not kept pace with how much more expensive housing has become.”

According to Bailey, to reasonably afford renting the average 2-bedroom apartment in Colorado Springs, which is priced in between $1,000 – $1,400, a person making minimum wage would have to work about 77 hours per week. Either that, or be paid about twice as much.

After speaking to the increasing prices in the Springs, the conversation moves on to statewide housing costs and wage requirements (6:21 in the video above).