Apartment transaction volume has recovered from its COVID-19 slump. In the second quarter, apartment transactions hit $52.7 billion—a record high, according to Real Capital Analytics (RCA). That was 40% more than the $37.6 billion it averaged across second quarters from 2015 to 2019.
Making the second quarter even more impressive was that no large portfolios or entity-level transactions drove up volume. Instead, sales of individual apartment properties totaled $43.3 billion. Larger deals also totaled $9.4 billion, which is 8% ahead of the second quarter pace from 2015 to 2019, according to RCA.
Mid- and high-rise apartment volume was 8% above the previous peak levels for any second-quarter period, while garden apartment activity was 14% above the earlier highs, according to RCA.
As sales rose, so did prices. Apartments for apartments rose 12% year-over-year in the first quarter, according to the RCA CPPI that measures pricing. The multifamily sector paced all of commercial real estate with that price increase.
CGI+ Real Estate Strategies (CGI+) has participated in this strong transaction volume as buyer and seller. It partnered with a family office to buy a two-property, 712-unit multifamily portfolio in Atlanta for $144.75 million. To secure the Brookhaven portfolio, CGI was able to bypass that competition. It secured the deal in an off-market transaction. In the process, it received a discount, which is rare in this fierce market.
In June, it sold Astoria at Celebration, a 306-unit luxury multifamily community in Celebration, FL, to Versity Investments for $74.5 million. The property had been vacated by order of the Osceola Building Department in 2016. After purchasing the community in 2019, CGI completed a complex multimillion-dollar renovation.
After the impressive turnaround, CGI took advantage of the strong investor appetite for apartments in the second quarter to generate value.
