Albuquerque, also known locally as Duke City, is the largest and most populous city in New Mexico. Albuquerque is the principal city of the Albuquerque MSA, with an estimated census population of 567,112.  Albuquerque city is the 32nd most populous city, while Albuquerque MSA area is the 60th largest in the United States.  Albuquerque metro area’s population has grown by 1.7% with a population hovering around 915,927. Albuquerque is growing, albeit slowly compared to neighboring metro areas; Austin Texas, 2.5%,  Las Vegas 2.4% Phoenix by 2%. Albuquerque is slowing recovering from the recession, but economic indicators show that an expansion period is on the horizon. With affordable housing, low cost of living, and mild climate just like the other Southwest states, Albuquerque has a promising environment for tremendous growth.

Albuquerque is the urban center of New Mexico and was recently ranked 4th on BestCities.org as one of America’ best small cities.  Albuquerque is rich in potential and its economy is emerging with strength in healthcare, research, technology, aerospace, energy, film, and advanced business services. Still lagging the nation in employment growth, the metro is finally poised to see significant job gains as it has adopted a business-friendly environment attracting movie industry company’s such as Netflix and NBC Universal. Other new employers that have landed in Albuquerque include financial service Lending Solutions Inc, software company RiskSense and healthcare service Carenet. According to Business Facilities, Albuquerque is the 9th best large-size metro area in the country for economic growth potential, right after Las Vegas. Albuquerque lies at the center of the New Mexico Technology Corridor, a concentration of high-tech private companies and government institutions;  Sandia National Laboratories, Kirtland Airforce Base, Intel, Northrop Gruman, Tempur-Pedic, and University of New Mexico.   Albuquerque has many development projects in the works, including the $39 million much-anticipated Topgolf, multiple mixed-use projects, Nuevo Atrisco, Raytheon Ktech, Jabil, and a $260 million Presbyterian Hospital multi-phase project.

Albuquerque, N.M., has sure had its headwinds, but the metro’s affordability, coupled with some recent large investments from giants such as Netflix and NBC, has increased job growth prospects, boosting rental demand along the way.  According to Yardi Matrix, the city is in growth mode as coastal cities are more expensive and larger to mid-sized western cities are costlier as well.  Limited housing supply in the face of steady demand resulted in a strong rent increase of 4.9% year-over-year through July 2019 and an increase in occupancy to 95%.  Both home prices and rents are improving across the metro fueled by low levels of new stock. A survey by CBRE projects that multifamily in Albuquerque will continue to show high occupancy and rent growth of 2.25-2.8 %.