All seven counties in the metro area showed a decrease in their vacancy rates during the third quarter, according to the Denver Metro Apartment Vacancy & Rent survey authored by Gordon E. Von Stroh, a professor of the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. "Denver is chugging around at the bottom, and the question is how long it will stay there," Steve Rahe, a CB Richard Ellis apartment broker tells GlobeSt.com. "Tell me what the job growth will be and I'll tell you how long it will take to be back in equilibrium."

However, Rahe notes that all of the indicators for landlords are moving in the right direction. And he expects more multifamily buildings to sell this year than in last year. The report that shows 26 submarkets in the third quarter showed a decrease in vacancy rates, while 10 showed and increase and one remained the same.

Buildings with nine to 50 units and buildings with more than 350 units showed the highest vacancy rate at 9.1%. Both, however, are down from the second quarter, Von Stroh notes. Historically, larger buildings have had the highest vacancy rates.