Four of my first cousins, with whom I played as a child in CA, grew up in rural western CO. Three have lived there since childhood, and the fourth retired there. So I keep a weather eye on Colorado.
Today CO resident Stephen Green, posting at Instapundit, links to interesting economic indicators reflecting Colorado’s evolving conditions. Some key insights:
For the first time in 16 years, rents in metro Denver are actually going down. Not “slowing their increase.” Not “rising less quickly.” Going down. Metro-wide rents are down nearly 5% over the last year.
People are still fleeing the high-tax, government-failure states of California, New York and Illinois. Those refugees used to pour into Colorado. No more. They’re finding sanctuary in low-tax, low-regulation states like Florida and Texas instead.
Give our leaders one victory. They’ve stopped the mass migration of Californians to Colorado — albeit by Californicating our laws.
Now rents are falling — not because Colorado suddenly learned how to build housing efficiently — but because people stopped coming. Demand softened.
When rents fall for the first time in 16 years and population growth stalls, it’s not a mystery. It’s the market delivering feedback.
Colorado is learning the California lesson: bad governance can spoil a beautiful place. Friends in Idaho are worried they could suffer the same fate.
