Metro Denver and Boulder apartment renters are facing some of the highest rent increases and renewing their leases at one of the lowest rates in the country, according to a study Thursday from MPF Research.

Of the 50 areas MPF tracked, Denver-Boulder ranked 47th with a renewal rate of 47.8 percent through the 12 months ending in October. It also had the sixth-highest rent increases at time of renewal of the areas tracked — 7.6 percent.

Nationally, apartment renters re-upped at a 52.2 percent rate, despite a historically high 5.2 percent average increase in rents at renewal.

Retention rates on the whole are rising despite more supply and above-average rent increases. Demographics are also influencing turnover rates, said Jay Parsons, director of analytics for MPF Research.

“Markets with lots of mobile, young adults — particularly in good job markets like Denver — tend to see more turnover. Older markets tend to see less turnover,” he said.

Milwaukee was the top market for renewals, with a retention rate of 65.3 percent, followed by northern New Jersey and Miami.

San Antonio, Texas; Salt Lake City and Jacksonville, Fla., were the three markets with lower apartment retention rates than Denver-Boulder.

MPF Research is an affiliate of RealPage, which services 10 million apartments in the U.S. Most of units included in the survey are professionally managed and institutionally owned.

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