Equity Residential, the largest publicly traded owner of apartments in the U.S., raised its forecast for property sales this year to $900 million as investor demand increased.
Nationwide sales of rental apartments climbed 12 percent in the third quarter from the previous three months to $3.6 billion, according to research firm Real Capital Analytics. Scarce credit and falling property values slowed the pace of deals beginning in 2008. Equity Residential’s long-standing strategy is to exit so-called second-tier markets and buy in cities including New York, Los Angeles and Washington.
The company began 2009 anticipating $700 million in property sales, Marty McKenna, a spokesman for the Chicago-based REIT, said in an interview today. It later boosted that forecast to $800 million, he said.
Proceeds “strongly position us to take advantage of any future opportunities to add high-quality properties to our portfolio,” Equity Residential Chief Executive Officer David Neithercut in a statement yesterday announcing quarterly results.
Billionaire investor Sam Zell established Equity Residential in 1969 and owns about 1 percent of the shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Pending acquisitions include a 326-unit apartment building in Pentagon City outside Washington for $99 million. Equity Residential may complete the deal as early as tomorrow, Neithercut said.
The REIT sold 24 properties totaling 4,620 apartments in the third quarter for an aggregate value of $381.1 million, the company said in a statement. It sold 47 properties this year for a total of $734.5 million.
Where the Deals Are
The sales were in suburban Denver, Vermont, Texas and Atlanta, according to McKenna.
The company is close to fully exiting markets in Texas and North Carolina, Chief Financial Officer Mark Parrell said in a conference call today.
The landlord has “no plans” to start new developments, Neithercut said. The REIT will likely report declining revenue from apartment leases into next year, he said.New lease rates are flat in New York and San Diego, and still falling in Los Angeles, Seattle and Phoenix, the company said.
The shares gained $1.50, or 5.4 percent, to $29.06 today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading
Source: Bloomberg News http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=58344
The Criscitos has been selling South Florida luxury and commercial real estate for over a decade and has sold over $1 billion dollars of property. They work as a multi-lingual team speaking english, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. They carved out a niche as a leading boutique real estate company with two distinct divisions -residential and commercial- both personally overseeing by Marcela and Anthony Criscito.
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