"For owners reluctant to sell in a market where tenant demand for rental housing has slowed, the coming months offer an opportunity to either maintain or improve asset performance in advance of the inevitable upturn in fundamentals," says Bryn Merrey, Orlando regional manager of Marcus & Millichap. He notes that cap rates for class B and C rental assets appear to be stabilizing in the low 8% range, though softening operating fundamentals have virtually stalled deal flow and made values difficult to discern.

The local median price for apartment deals recorded over the past year was $63,100 per unit, down 2% from the same time frame in 2007 and 15% from its peak three years ago, Marcus & Millichap reports. Also, employment growth in the Orlando metro area has measured only 2,000 jobs this year, compared to 11,200 in 2007.

Orlando apartment vacancy will approach nearly 10% by the end of this year, while asking rents are forecast to tick up 1.4% to $888 per month, Marcus & Millichap estimates. Approximately 3,000 new rental units are scheduled to come online areawide this year, more than twice the number that opened in 2007, expanding inventory by 2.6%.

Marcus & Millichap is marketing two neighboring apartment complexes on Curry Ford Road, with Pendleton Park Villas and Carlyle Court totaling 310 units with a listing price of $20.7 million, or $66,758 per unit. Stephen St. Clair, vice president of investments and director of the firm's National Multi Housing Group in Orlando, is representing a Massachusetts-based private investment group in the sale.