Multifamily mania grips region (again)

For the second consecutive year, multifamily rental deals outpaced other commercial real estate classes in 2017, as investors sought to take advantage of macroeconomic trends and positive gains in population and employment throughout the region.

Ten of the top 15 transactions in the Tampa Bay area, Sarasota and Manatee counties and the tri-county region of Southwest Florida in 2017 involved apartments, as compared to just six of the largest 15 sales in 2016.

In the three submarkets combined, buyers spent $669.25 million to acquire properties such as the Echo Lake Apartments in Lakewood Ranch, the 35-story Element in downtown Tampa, and the Sienna at Vista Lake apartments in Fort Myers.