The Balboa Park complex, which is located at 3630-3632 Park Blvd., has been purchased by private investors Douglas Patino and Barbel Patino. The buyers have shelled out $140,000 per unit for the complex, which houses a total of 10, one-bedroom apartments.

Rick Thornton of Cal-Prop Management acted on behalf of the buyers. The seller, John Sloboda, was represented by George Carlson of Burnham Real Estate ONCOR International.

The Balboa Park complex is one of the latest in a string of apartment assets to trade hands in San Diego in recent months. Investors continue to gobble up multifamily properties here, as the market is experiencing a continued rise in both occupancy levels and rents. At the end of this year's third quarter, the region's overall apartment occupancy rate was recorded as 96.5%, while the average rent for a San Diego apartment unit was reported as $1,171, according to recent research by multifamily data specialist RealFacts. "Southern California markets remain the strongest in the Western region," according to RealFacts' researchers, who point out that "the strong occupancy rates in all of Southern California suggests that more rent growth may be seen in the future."