Dive Brief:

• The largest apartment trade in memory powered a 402% year-over-year increase in apartment sales in August. Without the merger of Equity Residential and AvalonBay Communities, deal volume would have fallen for the third straight month, instead of hitting $80.5 billion, according to a report that data firm MSCI Real Assets shared with Multifamily Dive.
• The massive Vivmark deal also obscured the fact that apartment prices continued to erode, with the RCA CPPI for apartments falling 4.7% YOY. The index has declined 8.2% on an annualized basis, according to MSCI. 
• The AVB-EQR merger skewed sales of subtypes for the month and first nine months of the year. Most notably, portfolio and entity trades skyrocketed 3,860% YOY to $71.2 billion in August and 454% YOY to $91.8 billion for the year. 

Dive Insights

Garden sales increased 182% YOY to $24.4 billion for the month and 25% YOY to $73.2 billion for the year. Mid- and high-rise transactions jumped 659% YOY to $56.2 billion for the month and 137% YOY to $96.5 billion for the year.

However, those big bumps obscure major market issues. 

Sales of individual assets dropped 35% YOY in August, as garden and high-rise trades both showed a decline in the segment. The sales of single properties are 6% off the pace set in the first eight months of 2025, according to MSCI. 

August volume is likely to revise upward, but the “signal for the year to date through August is one of weakness,” according to MSCI.

Many multifamily investors agree. Recent interest rate hikes and rising 10-year Treasury yields aren’t helping. On Sept. 24, the 10-year treasury hit 5.11%, its highest level since 2007, according to CNN.

“I think that everyone is putting on a brave face, but the bond market and the impact on rates is definitely working its way into the deal market already,” Jon Siegel, co-founder and chief investment officer at Bethesda, Maryland-based apartment owner RailField Partners, told Multifamily Dive in emailed comments.

However, investors say they’re seeing more distressed properties hit the market, which could ultimately open the door to more deals and lead to more price declines.

“There’s a lot more distress, like in REOs starting to work their way through where previously sellers might have been holding on and trying to get their lender paid back,” Doug Root, co-founder and managing partner of Blackfin Real Estate Investors, recently told Multifamily Dive. “Now, that ship has sailed and lenders are taking the real estate back, we are starting to see more and more of that product become available.”

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