Apartment sales in Richmond on the rise

Published December 4, 2017 by Paula C. Squires

Richmond is on a tear when it comes to apartment sales. CBRE in Richmond reports that sales volume increased significantly in the third quarter. While the year isn’t over yet, the total value of transactions, $446 million, surpasses the sales figures for the entirety of 2016 and is on track to set a decade-high record.

In 2009, 2,434 apartment units sold compared to 4,708 units by the third quarter of this year. According to CBRE’s market report, the average vacancy rate was 5.1 percent in the third quarter.
There are about 2,500 new units under construction, with 375 of them in Scott’s Addition. 

Apartment rents in the Richmond market also are rising. According to CBRE’s third quarter multifamily market report, the average effective rent within the metro area continued to climb, rising 2.5 percent over the year. Rental rates now stand at a historic high of $992 per unit, or $1.10 per square foot.

One recent apartment sale was Millspring Commons, 159-unit property located in an affluent West End submarket of Richmond.

KFF AC LLC purchased the 159-unit property for an undisclosed price.  According to CBRE, the units have an occupancy rate of
97 percent and are located close to major retailers such as Target and Kroger.

Jonathan Greenberg and Bob Dean of CBRE Washington DC’s Multifamily Investment Properties Group and CBRE|Richmond’s Peyton Cox and Charles Wentwort represented the seller in the transaction.