Johnson Capital VP Mark Jeffries, in the company’s Denver office, tells us that the demand for financing in the market is not only deep now, but broad. Construction, bridge, and permanent financing are all in demand, especially in the multifamily sector, where strong fundamentals are driving investors to acquire, develop, and upgrade properties to stay competitive. “Denver’s a growth market for multifamily finance transactions of all types,” he says, adding that rent growth has been steady over the past three years, and is expected to continue despite the large number of units under construction. Johnson Capital recently tapped Mark to join its Denver office as part of the California-based finance company’s expansion in Colorado.

Strong fundamentals indeed: Axiometrics reports that Denver is the No. 2 market in the nation when it comes to effective rent growth, only topped by Oakland. Effective rents were up 9% year-over-year in Denver in July, an acceleration from last July, when they were up 7.5% year-over-year. (Oakland’s was 10.3%, up both this July and last). San Jose, Calif., Atlanta, and Miami were Nos. 3, 4, and 5 on the list of effective rental overachievers.