Multi-family is Sizzling - Fall 2016

Multi-family properties across Southwest Florida have benefited from macro-economic trends that show few signs of waning. Reduced home ownership, now at the lowest level in the U.S. since the 1960s, has fueled apartment occupancies and rental rate gains statewide. Additionally, millennials and baby boomers alike are gravitating toward newer rental properties in urban areas that offer significant amenities. While some investment sales have reached the $175,000 per unit level in the current cycle, most complexes in Bradenton and Sarasota have traded in the $85,000- to $110,000-per unit price range. With occupancies averaging 97 percent throughout the region – a statistically zero vacancy rate per industry metrics – this asset class will likely remain strong as the remnants of the last decade’s foreclosure crisis fade.