Apartment rents in Denver jump 13% in first quarter from a year ago according to the Apartment association of Metro Denver. The median rent for all sizes of units metro wide hit $1,158 per month, up from $1,021 a year ago, while average rent increased to $1,204 per month from $1,073 a year ago. Both the median and the average rents were up 3% compared to 4Q of 2014.

What’s pushing the rent growth is partially due to the lack of new construction because of the construction defects law which is hampering condo construction and the influx of new residents. Between 2013 and 2014, an additional 95,940 new Denver area residents were added while only 29,235 permits were issued in 2012 and 2013 to construct housing units to accommodate them. For every 1,000 new residents added in 2013 and 2014 in metro Denver area, home builders had only pulled 305 permits in that period. On average, metro Denver renters are spending 33.4% of their monthly income for housing, which well above the U.S. average of 30.1%.

In addition, the vacancy rate for Denver metro area fell to 4.9%, from 5.1% a year ago; however, the vacancy rate did increase from the 4.7% in fourth quarter 2014.