By Billy Eagle and Erik Olson, Senior Vice Presidents of Investment Properties, Multifamily, CBRE In Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city, multifamily demand remains high. Rents have steadily increased, though multifamily development remains sluggish due to the lack of developable land sites and geographic constraints. Most other New Mexico cities are also seeing a small pipeline of new multifamily projects due to increased material costs. However, contrary to other cities in New Mexico, the northern New Mexico City of Santa Fe has seen a boom in multifamily development. Santa Fe’s highly resilient and fundamentally sound multifamily market is highlighted throughout the pandemic. The state capitol is renowned for its Southwest culture, luxurious resorts and world-class art markets. Its economic drivers include, but are not limited to, tourism (more than 1 million visitors per year), government (Los Alamos National Labs is located nearby), medical and boutique financial services. The Santa Fe apartment market had record occupancies at 96.91 percent in January 2021 and year-over-year rent growth of 7.6 percent. The average weighted rent was $1,102 per month among a total of 3,385 market-rate units. Nearly 16 months later, they are averaging almost $1,300 per month, an 18 percent increase. Santa Fe also added 503 market-rate units to …
