LOS ANGELES—It looks like multifamily in the North L.A. and Ventura market is poised for another strong year, according to Jim Fisher, a principal in Lee & Associates' L.A. North/Ventura office. As we count down to the end of the year, we sat down with Fisher to talk about the L.A. multifamily market and his markets specifically. With cheap capital, low vacancy rates and climbing rents, he expects multifamily to experience a strong 2015.

“The L.A. multifamily market is very healthy. The major trends when you look at multifamily are pretty much the same across the board,” Fisher tells GlobeSt.com. “There is low cost of capital, and people are enjoying low interest rates and rent growth. People think this is a good time to transact because capital is cheap, interest rates are low and cap rates are very low. This is a good time to be a seller.”

Overall, investors of all types are looking for Los Angeles multifamily properties. “You have institutional capital readily available, but they are only going to buy larger assets and don't really compete with the small transactions under $20 million,” says Fisher. “We are seeing a lot of exchange money—high net worth transactions. You are also starting to see some foreign money showing up from China. They will generally look at transactions both big and small.”

In his market, which is a very large territory, rental rates range anywhere from $1,400 per month for a one bedroom to $2,600 per month for a one bedroom, with strong occupancies averaging nearly 95% in all of his markets. “Everything that we have listed this year has gone out with multiple offers and has sold north of list price, in some cases as much as 10%,” says Fisher. The strongest area of Los Angeles is perhaps the Westside, which Fisher defines as north of the 405 Freeway. That market has extremely low cap rates and is very, very competitive with several investors looking for assets.

Development, on the other hand, is strong in some areas and almost non-existent in others. In many cases, this is due to limited land supply. “One market that hasn't really popped yet is Burbank,” Fisher adds. “They have a new 2035 specific plan, which allows for an up zoning and a density of seven units to an acre. You are starting to see that in Downtown Burbank.” On the other hand, he looks at markets like Glendale that are flourishing with multifamily development. “Glendale has 4,000 units coming online, and it doesn't seem like that is slowing down due to the Disney campus and all of the jobs they have created there,” says Fisher. “I think development is going to remain strong, especially through the east valley and in through Burbank. “

Fisher expects these trends to carry through the next year, with interest rates remaining relatively low and occupancies and rental rates steadily increasing. All in all, 2015 should shape up to be another great multifamily year for investors.