In booming Denver, housing's not all that's scarce.

• Author: Taylor, Mike
• Position: BUSINESS AS USUAL

FORBES MAGAZINE RECENTLY RATED DENver No.1 out of 401 metropolitan areas on its annual list of Best Places for Business and Careers.

Of course, Denver's drawing power, especially for young professionals, has brought well-documented challenges, too, the most notable being where to put the newcomers. Apartment rental rates are up 26 percent from three years ago, according to the apartment locating service Colorado Lease Up, and Denver is taking on 7,000 to 10,000 new renters a year, the firm says.

An expected 30,000 new apartment units are projected to come online in the next three years to help accommodate newcomers, and that's good, because another survey suggests a lot of Denver's young professionals might be renting for some time.

Bloomberg Business recently ranked Denver the 12th-most difficult home-buying market for millennials, estimating that their median annual income of $39,462 is $2,620 short of the estimated yearly salary needed to buy a median-priced home (see page 7).

I've seen firsthand the effects of a tightening labor market, and evidence that Denver has room for not just more housing but more businesses.

First was a lawn-mowing service I called early in the summer that said it was too booked to take on any new business. Then a few months ago I was considering a kitchen renovation and called a contractor a friend had recommended. The contractor agreed to come over and give me some ideas, but warned me he was so swamped with jobs, mostly converting warehouses into pot-growing facilities, that he couldn't take on any new work for several months.

Around that time, I went looking for new kitchen-countertop material and stopped at a store with a big "granite outlet" sign in front. Out back were rows of granite slabs, including partial slabs left over from previous jobs. I saw one I liked and planned to have it cut and then install it myself. But the store manager said that wouldn't work; the sale had to include installation. He asked for my card and said he'd look into getting me a good deal, but I never heard from him...