Dive Brief:
- Apartment sales volume fell 22% year over year to $11.3 billion in November, according to a report that data firm MSCI Real Assets shared with Multifamily Dive.
- Individual asset trades dropped 37% YOY in November. Portfolio activity increased 56% YOY to $3.7 billion, boosting overall sales. Mid- and high-rise trades increased 22% YOY to $5.7 billion during the month. Garden property transactions dropped 43% YOY to $5.6 billion.
- Apartment values fell as the Real Capital Analytics commercial property price indexes for multifamily dropped 1.4% from last year, according to MSCI. The rate of price declines has increased after falling over the summer.
Dive Insight:
As of November, transaction volume sits 10% below 2024’s full-year total. To match last year, apartment investors would need to close $15 billion in deals in December, a 25% decline compared to the previous year.
Overall, industry insiders seem slightly disappointed with the sales activity in 2025, even if it turns out to be a better year than 2024.
“At some point, the market is going to shake loose,” Matt Ruesch, co-founder of Washington, D.C.-based investment firm Broad Creek Capital, told Multifamily Dive. “I think a lot of people were expecting that to happen in 2025, but there's been a lot of volatility in the market too.”
Across the industry, a lot of people were thinking 2025 would be a “pivot year,” according to Todd Wigfield, co-head of Greystar’s Americas principal business. However, that hasn’t been the case.
“I think it was still a little slower than we anticipated,” Wigfield said.
Collin Ross, senior vice president of portfolio management at Madison Communities, said he thinks the sales market will continue to remain pretty tight into 2026. “Honestly, it's a very difficult sellers’ market,” he told Multifamily Dive. “But that's on the flip side, that's why we think this is a pretty attractive buy-side opportunity.”
Others think sales could pick up as 2026 progresses, especially in the hot markets. After investors exited in the wake of COVID-19, San Francisco seems to be favored again, driven in part by jobs in artificial intelligence.
“I think 2026 is going to be a great year [for San Francisco],” Greg MacDonald, co-founder and CEO of Ballast Investments, told Multifamily Dive. “There's no supply. Cap rates are still pretty high. There's capital coming into the city, but it's not anything like it was pre-COVID.”
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