Multi-family in high demand! - Summer 2017

The region’s apartment sector has gained widespread attention thanks to a series of eye-popping transactions. Most recently, Continental Properties of Wisconsin paid Inland Real Estate more than $50 million for the 607-unit Lost Creek at Lakewood Ranch complex, which was completed in 2012. Similarly, many communities are trading in the range of $90,000 to $140,000 per unit, meaning a 100-unit complex might fetch $14 million on the open market. While these deals seem to have outsized prices attached to them, one cannot discount the reality that home ownership rates nationwide have fallen to historic lows, and area population and job growth is buoying demand for rental units. Likewise, development costs today, when adding in land and construction commodities, would make it increasingly difficult to build that 100-unit complex for less than $14 million.