Denver apartments

In the Denver area, which is building a rail transit system called FasTracks, a recent real estate analysis found that people are willing to pay about 4 percent more a month to rent an apartment if it’s within a quarter-mile of a light-rail stop. Apartments near transit appeal especially to college students and professionals in their thirties, according to a study by Grubb & Ellis that was reported in the June 14 Denver Post.

Demand is pushing up the cost of land near transit stations. From 2006 to 2010, developers buying land for apartments paid an average of 25 percent more when the land was within a quarter-mile of an existing or planned transit stop, the analysis found.