Weaker job growth and a wave of new units hitting the market slowed the rate of apartment rent increases across metro Denver last month, according to a report from Axiometrics.

Metro Denver apartment rents rose 8.8 percent on average in September from a year earlier. That’s down from the 9.7 percent annual gain recorded in August and the slowest annual increase since June 2014.

That increase still ranks as the sixth fastest among the major metros that Axiometrics tracks. But the average apartment rent in Denver actually fell $5 between August and September to $1,359 a month, according to Axiometrics.

“If job growth continues to decline, the demand for apartments won’t be as heavy. In turn, landlords will not be able to raise rents as much,” Axiometrics vice president of research Stephanie McCleskey said in her report.

Several markets — especially on the north side — are still seeing double-digit annual increases. Westminster led the metro area for the second month with a 13.8 percent gain in average rents. Northeast Denver was second at 12.6 percent, while the Northglenn-Thornton area had a 12.5 percent gain.

Different parts of Aurora are still seeing double-digit increases, as are southeast Denver and the Arvada-Broomfield market.

Downtown represented the weakest market in the survey for both rent increases, 2 percent, and for occupancy, 94.3 percent.

Developers have focused a lot of attention on central Denver, which they consider a place where young adults and retiring professionals want to live. But many of the units are higher priced, and analysts warn that those rents are out of reach for many young adults.

Axiometrics said it has identified 10,332 new units to be delivered from the current quarter through the end of next year, which is coming on top of the 6,892 new apartments already completed this year.

Occupancy rates in metro Denver were at 95.5 percent in September, down from 95.9 percent in August and 96.2 percent in September 2014.

Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410, asvaldi@denverpost.com or @aldosvaldi