After a record-setting 2015, January got off to a strong start with a 58% growth of apartment investment activity, according to Real Capital Analytics (RCA).
The growth for January came from portfolio and entity-level transactions, with megadeals claiming 52% of all transaction volume. They were up 307% year over year. Single asset sales dropped 5% year over year on volume of $7.8 billion .
The cap rates for garden apartments were 5.9%, and mid/high-rise assets were at 4.7% in January.
“Private investors continued to be the dominant buyers of apartment assets in 2015, accounting for 55% of all transaction activity. A year earlier these buyers had been behind 61% of all deal activity but this declining share is not a sign of these investors walking away from the market.” said the RCA report.
The greatest growth in activity was driven by cross border investors, who notched a 179% gain in 2015. Cross-border investors were active in mid and high-rise assets, with an 18% share in this particular market.
“These investors were purchasing some of the most expensive assets in the market with an average price per unit 72% higher than the market average and 59% ahead of the average price for mid and high-rise assets,” says the RCA report.
