You can rent in metro Denver, but it’s going to cost you — about 32.9 percent of your monthly income, or about 51.6 percent more of your pay than the historic norm of the pre-bubble years between 1985 and 1999.

Buyers can expect to spend about 19.7 percent of monthly income on housing, or about 8.9 percent less than the historic norm, according to a report released Tuesday by Zillow.

Economists blame the population boom and the housing bust.

Demand for rental housing has increased as Colorado logged a net in-migration of 53,000 people this year. The state is expected to gain another 56,000 people in 2015, according to the Colorado Business Economic Outlook released this week.

The outlook also said

many Gen-X’ers (those ages 34-49) who were first-time homebuyers earlier this century are now post-foreclosure renters. Some millennials (ages 33 and under) are in the same situation in Colorado, but many more are renting while they struggle to find jobs that pay enough — and are secure enough — to justify homeownership.

As a result, apartment-vacancy rates are low, rental rates are increasing and concessions are rare, said the report.

Simultaneously, Trulia issued a report saying that Denver now has the fastest rent growth in the nation, up 14.2 percent in November from a year ago to a median rent of $1,550 for a two-bedroom property.

The Trulia Price Monitor and Trulia Rent Monitor said that in November, Denver had the steepest increases in the country, although the typical two-bedroom unit in Denver “still rents for less than half of what it would cost in San Francisco or New York.”

In November, the median two-bedroom rent was $3,600 in San Francisco, up 12.2 percent from a year ago, and $3,400 in New York, up 8.3 percent.

As of this year’s third quarter, in the Denver area, average rents were up 9.2 percent over the previous 12 months, and the median rental rate was 12.3 percent higher, according to the business outlook, produced by the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business. As of the second quarter, the 12-month average rent increase was 8.8 percent in the Fort Collins-Loveland area and 13.5 percent in Greeley.

But the Leeds School

forecast suggested that multifamily construction will continue to be strong next year. In addition to the more than 20,000 units completed or under construction this year, more than 16,000 units are in various stages of planning. About 12,500 multifamily permits were forecast for 2015, equal to the 2014 forecast.

Rent increases could slow in 2015 if apartment construction finally catches up with demand, the Zillow report said.

Among buyers, financial pressure is high among first-time owners. They can expect to spend 25.4 percent of their incomes on a mortgage payment, compared with 25.2 percent historically.

Zillow’s chief economist Stan Humphries said it is very difficult to come up with a down payment when so much of a person’s monthly paycheck — especially on an entry-level salary — is going to the landlord instead of into savings.

Still, he said, “homeownership remains very accessible for buyers that can scrape together a down payment — even if that down payment is relatively modest.”

Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939, hpankratz@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ howardpankratz