ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Albuquerque is seeing record low vacancy rates for industrial space around the city. A recent report from the real estate firm, NAI Sunvista, shows as vacancy has continued to decline, there’s an upward trend for lease rates which have remained flat for the last five or six years.
“We’ve been unbuilt for some time so even pre COVID we really haven’t experienced significant industrial growth since probably before the last recession,” explains Alex Pulliam, an advisor at NAI SunVista Commercial Real Estate.
The COVID-19 pandemic created trends pulling away from traditional retail storefront space and moving towards warehouse space for e-commerce.
Senior Advisor Riley McKee with NAI SunVista shares, “Given where the market is today, there really is a strong need for some developers and investors to take a leap at building and leasing it to fill that void.”
According to the report, there are about 775,000 square feet of available industrial space on the market right now in the City of Albuquerque.
Mckee says, “It quickly became apparent that most of the companies that use industrial real estate were considered essential throughout the pandemic so their operations were never impacted, they stayed very busy and that allowed them to move and expand in a new space.”
McKee would like to see new construction to help with the limited existing buildings. He shares that the market could use every range of property sizes.
A spokesperson for the city’s Economic Development Department says that it’s exciting there is so much activity in the industrial market and sees it as a great indicator of robust commercial activity.
