Rent and resale signals point in different directions in this ZIP. As of June 2026, Zillow’s ZIP-level ZORI is $2,066 per month, down 1.2% from a year earlier. ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, rather than a measured rent for a particular available home or apartment. The decline makes the current reading less supportive of a simple growth narrative, while the separate resale evidence later in this report shows a market that did not move in lockstep with the rent index.
The backward-looking ZORI history establishes a cooling pattern rather than a uniform decline. Exact same-month change is negative over both one year, at 1.2%, and three years, at 0.5% annualized, but remains positive at 2.4% annualized over five years. Thus, recent direction confirms the shorter cooling path while breaking from the longer five-year gain. Monthly ZORI changes annualize to 2.5% variability, so one current rent snapshot has reasonably limited month-to-month noise but still deserves more caution than a stable lease comp set would provide. The largest peak-to-trough decline in the observed history was 3.9%. Coverage is 100% across the available sequence; transparent national discovery ranks are 2,650 for momentum, 647 for stability, and 2,104 for the balanced measure, where lower ranks are higher. These are historical descriptions, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
The five-digit label 80209 is both Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and a matched Census ZCTA. A ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. The ACS 2024 five-year survey reports a $2,031 median gross rent for occupied renter homes, and gross rent includes selected utilities; it is therefore a different evidence universe from Zillow asking rent. The current ZORI sits 1.7% above that survey median, a narrow cross-source difference rather than proof that any listed unit includes or excludes the same utilities. The arithmetic 30% required-income screen produces $82,640 annually for the current ZORI. Against matched-ZCTA median household income of $125,733, the asking-rent-to-income screen is 19.7%. That screen is arithmetic only, not advice or an applicant qualification rule.
Bedroom figures should be read as modelled estimates, not measured bedroom rents. Scaling ZIP ZORI through the local FY2026 HUD ladder produces modelled monthly estimates of $1,625 for a studio, $1,735 for one bedroom, $2,066 for two bedrooms, $2,704 for three bedrooms, and $3,015 for four bedrooms. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard rather than asking rent, even when it supplies the ladder used here. The local HUD two-bedroom standard is $2,089, which places the ZORI-anchored two-bedroom estimate close to, but conceptually separate from, that administrative benchmark.
The matched ZCTA’s housing composition supplies context for renter exposure without identifying conditions at any particular address. Of 16,362 housing units, 7,994 are single-family units and 6,231 are in large multifamily structures. The ZCTA vacancy rate is 6.8%, while the ACS classification includes homes categorized as vacant for rent; neither figure establishes that a desired unit is presently available, competitively priced, or in comparable condition. Renter households make up a slight majority of occupied households. More than one-third of renter households report spending at least 30% of income on gross rent, a burden measure based on occupied renter homes and not evidence of the burden or lease terms for a specific prospective tenant.
Wider geographies are useful only as named context. The Denver city-scope rent figure is $1,877, the Denver County-scope figure is $1,889, and the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO metro-scope figure is $1,930; all are below the ZIP ZORI. The matched ZCTA’s rent level is therefore elevated relative to each broader benchmark, but those figures do not substitute for ZIP-level asking-rent observations. On renter affordability, the Denver city-scope share spending 30% or more on gross rent is 47.6%, compared with 35.6% in the matched ZCTA. That contrast describes differing survey aggregates, not a reason for the observed asking-rent gap.
Direct ZIP resale data presents the central counterweight to the cooling rent history. In the rolling three-month Redfin resale observation, median sold price was $1,124,746, up 0.9% year over year; 146 homes sold with a median 14 days on market. Inventory stood at 129 homes, down 19.9%, alongside 2.7 months of supply. Resale pricing signals were not uniformly aggressive: average sale-to-list was 98.7%, 19.0% of sales closed above list, and 43.5% went off market within two weeks. These are for-sale market observations, not rental transactions or rental comps. They challenge any simple conclusion that weaker recent asking-rent history necessarily coincides with broadly weak resale conditions, while the below-list average still signals room for price dispersion. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by median sold price is a 2.20% cross-source screening ratio only, not a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield.
Important limits remain. Zillow’s blended asking-rent index, ACS gross-rent survey, HUD administrative standards, and Redfin resale observations answer different questions and should not be merged into a single unit-level valuation. The history cannot forecast future rents, and the ZCTA’s survey estimates and margins of error do not map every delivery address or lease. A property-level review would need the actual advertised rent, lease duration, utility treatment, bedroom count, concessions, condition, listing history, and directly comparable current rentals. For a home purchase context, it would also need property-specific sold comparables, list-price changes, physical characteristics, taxes, insurance, and maintenance information. Which observed lease terms and directly comparable sales, rather than ZIP averages, govern the particular property under review?
","findings":[{"body":"Zillow ZORI is down over one and three years, while its five-year annualized change remains positive. That split makes the recent reading a cooling signal rather than evidence that rents have always fallen. Moderate monthly variability and a contained historical drawdown support reasonable confidence in the index trend, but not certainty about any individual listing.","title":"Cooling rent history, limited short-run noise"},{"body":"The current ZIP asking-rent index is only modestly above the matched-ZCTA ACS median gross rent. ACS covers occupied renter homes over a five-year survey period and includes selected utilities, while Zillow reflects observed asking rent across rental types. The numerical proximity is informative context, but it cannot establish comparable lease terms, unit quality, or utility responsibility.","title":"Survey rent and asking rent are close but not interchangeable"},{"body":"The direct ZIP resale observation shows a higher median sold price year over year, limited months of supply, and quick marketing time even as ZORI has declined recently. At the same time, average sale-to-list remains below full list price. This creates a mixed for-sale picture that is separate from rental transactions and should not be used as a rent comp.","title":"Resale firmness conflicts with a simple rent-growth story"},{"body":"Studio through four-bedroom amounts are modelled estimates created by scaling ZIP ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder. They are useful for a consistent size-based screen, especially because the two-bedroom estimate aligns with the overall ZORI anchor. They are not measured bedroom rents, and HUD’s underlying standards are administrative benchmarks rather than observed asks.","title":"Bedroom figures are ladder-based models"}],"risks":["A ZIP-level blended asking-rent index can differ materially from a specific property because unit size, condition, concessions, utilities, lease length, and listing timing are not identified by the index.","The ACS ZCTA is a statistical geography rather than a USPS delivery ZIP, and its five-year occupied-household survey can include addresses or rent conditions that do not match a current listing.","Vacancy, renter burden, and vacant-for-rent counts describe aggregates. They cannot demonstrate current availability, negotiating leverage, affordability, or utility treatment for a particular unit or household.","The Redfin data concerns direct ZIP resale activity only. Median sale prices and sale-to-list measures do not establish rental income, operating costs, property-specific value, or future market performance."],"qa":[{"a":"They represent different evidence universes. Zillow ZORI is a ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types. ACS median gross rent is a matched-ZCTA five-year survey measure for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. Their comparison provides context, but it cannot turn either source into a lease-specific rent quote.","q":"Why does the report show both Zillow rent and ACS gross rent?"},{"a":"No. The studio through four-bedroom figures are modelled monthly ZIP estimates. They scale the overall ZIP ZORI using the local HUD bedroom ladder, so they maintain a consistent bedroom relationship. HUD FMR or SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, not observed asking rent, and the resulting estimates are never measured bedroom rents.","q":"Are the bedroom rent figures observed market rents?"},{"a":"It is a simple arithmetic screen: annualized current ZORI divided by 30%. It shows the income level that corresponds mathematically to spending 30% of gross income on that asking-rent index. It is not affordability advice, a lending standard, a tenant-screening rule, or an applicant qualification requirement.","q":"What does the 30% required-income figure mean?"},{"a":"Redfin’s rolling three-month ZIP observation describes for-sale activity, including sold prices, inventory, marketing time, supply, and sale-to-list outcomes. It does not describe rental transactions. The contrast between cooling recent ZORI and firmer resale indicators is a cross-market tension, not proof of causation, valuation, property yield, or future performance.","q":"How should the resale data be read alongside the rent history?"}],"sources":[{"key":"apartment_list_time_on_market","name":"Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquidity","release":"Apartment List 2026-07","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/category/data-rent-estimates"},{"key":"apartment_list_vacancy","name":"Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancy","release":"Apartment List 2026-07","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/apartment-list-vacancy-index-methodology"},{"key":"census_zcta_facts","name":"Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and income","release":"ACS 2024 5-year ZCTA","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://api.census.gov/data/2024/acs/acs5.html"},{"key":"hud_zip","name":"HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent 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