Dive Brief:
- Apartment sales volume increased 1% year over year to $10.6 billion in July, according to a report that data firm MSCI Real Assets shared with Multifamily Dive.
- The Real Capital Analytics commercial property price indexes for multifamily ticked up 0.4%, according to MSCI. A year ago, prices were declining at a 6.6% annual pace. Cap rates have remained flat at 5.7% over the past year.
- Garden property sales increased 6% to $6 billion, while mid- and high-rise sales fell 5% to $4.5 billion.
Dive Insight:
The transaction market continues to fluctuate based on whether large one-off trades occur. Individual sales fell 1% YOY to $9 billion, and portfolio and entity-level deals increased 11% to $1.6 billion.
The last couple of weeks have seen a few significant transactions announced where smaller REITs scaled down, which should boost sales numbers when they close later in the year. Earlier this month, Bethesda, Maryland-based Elme Communities sold a 19-asset portfolio to Atlanta-based investor, developer and manager Cortland Partners for $1.6 billion in cash.
Also, earlier this month, Aimco sold a portfolio of five suburban Boston-area properties in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, totaling 2,719 units, to an affiliate of Norfolk, Virginia-based apartment owner Harbor Group International for $740 million.
Last week, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based apartment owner Morgan Properties announced it will acquire Toronto-based Dream Residential REIT in an all-cash transaction for approximately $354 million.
Jeffrey Dunne, vice chairman at Dallas-based commercial services firm CBRE, expects volume to pick up as buyers and sellers accept that the 10-year Treasury will remain in the 4% to 4.5% range going forward.
“Everyone has been waiting for rates to go down,” Dunne said. “I think the market has concluded that's not happening. So there's more selling because there's more acceptance of that.”
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