Christina Real Estate Raises $44M in Equity Commitments

Christina Real Estate Investors has closed Christina Real Estate Investors 4 with $44.1 million in equity commitments from more than 150 investors in the US. The platform, a part of a programmatic series, launched in 2019 and has already acquired seven properties in the Los Angeles area.

Christina 4 has purchased six residential properties including a total of 61 units near CBS Television City, a 22-unit condo development that is near ground breaking and a 15-unit beachfront property in Playa del Rey. The seventh asset is a 7,500-square-foot retail property at the West Third Street Shopping District. These assets all align with the firm’s investment strategy to own and operate high-quality properties in primary locations capable of generating strong returns.

“We believe that the Westside region of Los Angeles is one of the best real estate markets in the world, and that our team is uniquely positioned to identify one-of-a-kind investment opportunities and capitalize on the underlying demand drivers,” Adam Rosenkranz, director of asset management at the firm, said in a statement. Los Angeles is one of the major metros to fumble during the pandemic and then rapidly recover this year.

In fact, investors continue to be bullish on the market, despite some outward migration to more affordable secondary markets. At the recent GlobeSt.com Multifamily conference, experts were not even deterred by some population loss in California, saying that the state is gaining an education population and the supply-demand imbalance still drives positive fundamentals.

By the third quarter, the Los Angeles apartment market had already returned to pre-pandemic activity, according to research from Marcus & Millichap. Apartment leasing is at a 15-year high, illustrating the strong renter demand. Demand has been so healthy that vacancy has fallen to 4% and rents are up 3% for the year. Supply constraints are driving the activity. The dynamic is the most severe in the luxury segment, where class-A vacancy rates have decreased in all of the major sectors of the Los Angeles market. Although there will be 10,500 new apartment deliveries this year, only Greater Downtown Los Angeles, which includes Mid-Wilshire and Hollywood, is reporting an increase in supply. The Westside Cities, San Fernando Valley and South Bay-Long Beach, however, will see a 10% to 35% decrease in new home deliveries.

Christina Real Estate is no doubt benefitting from this recovery. The firm has already announced plans to launch a platform in the series, Christina 5, later this year.