Nearly 3,000 apartments in Austin area on

the block

Chicago firm is selling all of its multifamily properties in

Texas.

By M.B. Taboada
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, May 09, 2008

Equity Residential, the nation's largest publicly traded owner and operator of multifamily housing, is pulling out of Texas and selling its entire Austin apartment portfolio, totaling nearly 3,000 units.

Marty McKenna, a spokesman for Chicago-based Equity, said the firm is leaving because it has "been investing in markets that have better long-term prospects," primarily on the East and West coasts. He did not elaborate.

Although McKenna would not discuss details of the Austin sales, GlobeSt.com, a real estate news site, reported that an unidentified buyer has a contract on the Central Texas properties. They include the Madison at the Arboretum and River Stone Ranch, in addition to seven other properties in Northwest Hills, far North Austin and Southwest Austin.

Equity has sold its Houston portfolio, and a pullout from Texas would mean sales of 17 properties in the Dallas area and two in San Antonio.

Equity's multifamily properties in Austin averaged 96 percent occupancy for the first quarter, above the average local occupancy of 93 percent, according to data collected by Austin Investor Interests LLC, which tracks and forecasts the apartment market.

The nine properties are Class B and were built between 1984 and 1997, with an average of 849 square feet and an average monthly rent of $841.

Sales of multifamily properties in the Austin area are on the rise. About 30 percent of the multifamily inventory in the area has changed ownership in the past two years, said Robin Davis, president of Austin Investor Interests.

"The heightened level of investment in the Austin (metropolitan area) has been attributed to the comeback scene in the market over the last two years as rental rates have risen nearly 10 percent over this time period," Davis said.

Although there is much investor interest in the Austin rental market, Davis said, there are a few concerns, including the nearly 10,000 new units expected to be completed in the next year. She said she expects those units to lower market occupancy rates and slow the increase in average rents.

Other real estate experts say they think that the housing crisis will keep tenants in apartments longer because many entry-level buyers have been locked out of the market as a result of more stringent credit standards.

Overall, rents for apartments in the Austin area have steadily increased since 2005, according to the latest Austin Investor Interests report. Since the start of the year, monthly rents have increased about $5 to an average of $808, according to Davis' report, and rents increased by $42 annually from 2007 to 2008.

The Southwest and Northwest Hills sectors in which five of the Equity properties are located "have performed well and have little new construction in the pipeline," Davis said. The far North sector where three other Equity properties are located has had new construction, and there are plans for more, she said.

But Austin's multifamily market isn't prone to being overbuilt, partly because of environmental restrictions, said George Deuillet, senior investment adviser for Hendricks & Partners, an apartment investor research firm.

"We have some insulation for being overbuilt," he said. "It is a really good time to sell because we have a large demand, but the fundamentals of the Austin multifamily market remain strong, so it is a good time to buy, too."