East and West Coast Dominate Top 5 Apartment Deals in 2024, Each Exceeding $250M

Investments in U.S. apartments rebounded in 2024, with 5,700 properties changing hands across the country for a total value of $146 billion, according to data from MSCI Real Capital Analytics. This represented an increase of 22% year-over-year but was below record-setting sales, averaging $332 billion per year in 2021 and 2022 when about 25,000 properties changed hands.

The average price per unit was $211,474 last year, up 3.8% year-over-year. That is one of the lowest levels since 2020 but is above per-unit pricing from 2015 to 2019, which averaged $151,000, according to RealPage. Apartment transaction cap rates were up 24 basis points for the year to an average of 5.57%. That is the highest cap rate in eight years, although apartment cap rates remain the lowest among major property types.