2026 Multifamily Leadership Series: Garrett Karam, EMBREY

In the fourth year of Connect CRE’s annual Leadership Series, we have focused on the multifamily sector. We invited 18 apartment heavyweights to provide their unfiltered views of the current market, its challenges and opportunities. The insights of these power players have been collected in a downloadable report, and we’re also presenting them individually, in alphabetical order. Here, Garrett Karam, Chief Investment Officer at EMBREY, shares his insights.

What does construction lending look like in the current environment? 

Construction lending in multifamily is significantly better than it was 12-18 months ago. Both leverage and spreads are nearing what we see in stabilized markets. As importantly, overall availability is high. We no longer have to cobble together several banks to get a deal started; lenders are now closing on whole loans and taking the syndication risk themselves. 

Is the equity environment improving for development? 

We haven’t experienced an increase in equity for new multifamily development. Conditions remain consistent from ‘25-’26: equity continues to be the gating factor on new construction starts, despite an underwriting environment that has improved substantially over the last 12-24 months. I believe this will change at some point in ‘27, but I expect that our capital providers will remain selective and disciplined for the next several years. 

Will rising gas prices and inflation affect development? 

I do not believe inflation is a significant risk for our business in the short term. Energy prices are back down, and I expect they will remain moderate going forward. The inflation caused by the triple shock wave of material shortages, high demand, and loose fiscal policy is still fresh on everyone’s minds, but we are in a fundamentally different environment today than the years post-COVID. Long term, inflation is absolutely something to keep our eye on and it may have a material impact on investment strategy in our space as we grapple with the national debt challenges. 

Absorption has increased this year. Is that due to a slowdown in development or other factors? 

I believe it is more useful to look at both supply and demand on the submarket basis, rather than focusing on the market-wide numbers that are often reported. We have experienced consistent demand the past three years across our portfolio and are now starting to benefit from more of our comp sets stabilizing, which is constructive for future pricing power. I expect demand to remain consistent going forward for several reasons, including the continued difficulty of homeownership; reversion to the mean in immigration; structural macroeconomic tailwinds; and the subsequent potential for accelerating household formation.  

Will we see an increase or decrease in rent prices this year? 

Most of our Sunbelt markets and submarkets will see increased pricing power in the back half of this year as compared to prior years. This starts to show up through stronger renewal data and concession burn-off, which we are already experiencing to some extent. The next steps are full concession burn-off and face rent growth, which I expect to happen in summer of next year. 

San Antonio-based EMBREY is a vertically integrated firm that develops, builds, owns and manages multifamily communities and commercial assets in select U.S. markets. In more than 50 years, it has delivered over 50,000 multifamily units and six million square feet of commercial space. 

Click here to read the series.