ATLANTA—There's plenty of discussion about the concept of multifamily communities in mixed-use, walkable environments and Transit-Oriented Development in Atlanta and beyond. With the movement toward these concepts, are some developers too quick to dismiss theviability of traditional garden-style multifamily communities in suburban environments?

“There is absolutely the space for both kinds of apartment communities in today's environment,” Josh Goldfarb, co-founder and co-managing partner of Multi Housing Advisors, an Atlanta-based brokerage firm that focuses exclusively on apartment investment sales, tells GlobeSt.com. In part one of this series, he answered this key question: Should developers be worried about multifamily overbuilding?

Motivated by generationally low borrowing costs and rent increases more than triple the rate of inflation, investor activity is heating up all over the metro, according to Marcus & Millichap's latest Atlanta Apartment Research Report. As for investment sales, what kinds of players are most active in the Atlanta and Southeast multifamily markets?

“We're seeing many local sponsors with foreign equity, and the bulk of that foreign equity is coming from Canada, Israel, and China,” Goldfarb says. “Those are the three biggest buckets right now.”

What kinds of properties are those investors chasing? M&M generally report that buyers are focusing mostly on assets inside the heart of Atlanta, where rents can average more than $300 above suburban markets. Goldfarb has a broader view.

“Communities built after 2000 that offer an opportunity to upgrade,” he says. “They tend to seek properties in second-ring Atlanta markets such as Kennesaw, McDonough and Douglasville.”