The apartment investment market appears to be red hot in Greater Hartford.
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The apartment investment market appears to be red hot in Greater Hartford.
Of the 30 largest commercial property sales recorded in Greater Hartford last year, 20 deals involved apartment complexes trading hands, according to Hartford Business Journal's largest commercial sales list, which appears on PG. 10.
And of those 20 sales, investors paid a combined $522.8 million for 3,879 apartment units, according to HBJ's list, which was put together with help from CBRE/New England. The average unit sales price was $129,364.82.
The largest apartment deal was the $70 million sale of the 374 unit Squire Village Apartments in Manchester, whose purchaser was Jonathan Rose Cos. TIAA-CREF. Other major deals included the sales of Bloomfield's Hawthorne At Gillette Ridge (246 units, $52 million), and the Chestnut Hill Apartments (314 units, $47 million) and Norwoods Apartments (336 units, $46.4 million), both in Middletown.
The most active buyers included Massachusetts-based Hampshire Properties, which purchased three apartment complexes, all in Middletown, for a combined $125.1 million. Meantime, Bridgeport's Navarino Capital Management LLC bought five properties (one in Vernon, Ellington, and Enfield and two in Newington) for a combined $65 million.
Demand for multifamily housing remains strong both regionally and nationally, according to Victor Nolletti, managing director of Institutional Property Advisors and Eric Pentore, a senior associate of brokerage firm Marcus & Millichap in New Haven.
“Multifamily housing is and has been a consistent performer within the real estate investment spectrum for decades,” Nolletti and Pentore said in a joint statement. “Shifts in renter demographics continue to support strength within this sector. Renters by choice, specifically Millennials, mobile professionals and young empty nesters have shed the constraints of owner-occupied housing.”
The national homeownership rate remains at historical lows, currently 62.9 percent, the lowest since 1965; as a result, occupancy and demand for rental housing remains strong, they said.
Currently, within Hartford County, there are approximately 3,000 apartment units in construction or lease-up, they said.
– Greg Bordonaro
