(Save the date: RealShare Apartments comes to the Westin Bonaventure, Los Angeles, October 24.)
IRVINE, CA-“The multifamily market is like our weather, it is hot hot hot.” So said moderator John Condas, partner at Allen Matkins, during the opening panel at RealShare Orange County yesterday afternoon. According to Condas, it is a great time to be developing apartments.
Condas points to values going up, which are “making development sites pan out,” as well as state laws requiring more housing at a denser level, to help illustrate his point. He also notes that cities are much more amenable to be cutting deals. “It is a good time to be processing entitlements,” he said.
RealShare Orange County is an event produced by ALM’s Real Estate Media Group and drew approximately 600 attendees. Panelist Jeff Rowerdink, first VP of acquisitions at Essex Property Trust, echoed Condas, noting that his firm is “trying to go after deals that are shovel ready because the cost of construction right now is still relatively low, and because of all the municipality incentives.”
On a macro level, according to Joe Cesta, VP of regional manager of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, apartments are a hot ticket due to the lack of alternatives for investment. “Debt is extremely cheap and the housing market in Orange County has not come back,” he said.
Cesta pointed out that the average Orange County transaction is around $2 million and less than 100 units. “The private clients are driving the local marketplace,” he said. “We are seeing an emergence of first time buyers.”
The biggest challenge in Orange County, according to Jay Blasberg, EVP and national production manager of Alliant Capital, is finding opportunity. “All of the factors that would cause us to do more deals are here,” he said. But a lot of it, he said, depends on the economy.
The trend right now, according to Stephan Kachani, VP of sales at Lone Oak Fund, is that the loans between $1 million and $15 million “are safe,” but with the bigger loans—up to $50 million—there isn’t as much opportunity out there, he says.
He continued to note that “You have to find the opportunity, but they are there. You just have to get creative.” According to Kachani, if you are an investor and you money is in the bank, you might make 0.5% on your money, but you can make 3% to 4% on investing in an apartment building. “You have to take a little risk on apartments, but it will pay off…there is 80 million gen Y kids that want to live in apartments.”
In terms of cap rates, Blasberg says that there has certainly been cap rate compression. “Because there is so much equity chasing so few transactions, I think they will continue to compress.” But again, Blasberg points to the issue being finding the opportunity. “When we go to place a multifamily loan for an acquisition, normally there is 15 guys standing in line to buy the property.”
Check back to GlobeSt.com on Monday for more RealShare Orange County coverage.
**Want to see the full gallery from RealShare Orange County? Head over to Facebook and “like” the GlobeSt page.
 |
 |
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Natalie Dolce
Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com and GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
