Cushman & Wakefield, a commercial real estate service firm, brokered the sale of a 63-unit multifamily property worth $40 million in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood, according to a press release.
HUBB NYC acquired the property from Greystone Development, with the deal was brokered by Cushman & Wakefield’s Dan O’Brien, Adam Spies, Adam Doneger and Avery Silverstein.
The 13-story building comprises “18 studios, 34 one-bedroom units, nine two-bedroom apartments and two duplexes.” In-unit amenities include quartz countertops, appliances like dishwashers, and washers and dryers. The release also noted the lounge includes coworking space, rooftop terrace, media room and bike storage.
The bigger picture shows investment sales of multifamily buildings reaching $2.7 billion in the first six months of 2022, bringing a total transaction value to $5.6 billion. There is a dip of 8% from the second half of 2021, owing to a “record activity” in December 2021. Overall it is up by 213% year-over-year, according to a report by Ariel Property Advisors, the Brooklyn 2022 Mid-Year Commercial Real Estate Trends.
The report confirms the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on Brooklyn’s multifamily market, which saw a boost in the second half of 2021 and continues into 2022.
Multifamily projects primarily accounted for an additional $773 million of the total sales. Commercial Observer reports eight of the 12 transactions worth over $50 million in the first half of 2022 were accounted for by multifamily projects or development sites where multifamily properties are yet to crop up.
APA also observed market indicators that reveal the success of the multifamily industry in Brooklyn. It says rent and vacancy rates have crossed pre-pandemic numbers. The report quotes the Rent Guidelines Board, which states rent-stabilized housing has seen the largest increase in the last 10 years, with a 3.25% increase on one-year leases and a 5% increase on two-year leases.
The increase is also attributed to The New York State Legislature not taking action on the Good Cause eviction bill, which was hailed as a form of rent control by multifamily industry representatives. Housing advocates also said the bill would create obstacles for affordable housing and lead to rent hikes and homelessness.
In other recent proptech news, Brigade REAP, a proptech accelerator program, created “India’s first PropTech syndicate” fund in 2021 called PropTech@REAP, which will invest in proptech companies through seed and pre-Series A stage fundings. FinLedger spoke with Kyle Finney, the business development manager at Arize about amenities as a service in smart apartments, smart devices offering risk mitigation and driving NOI and what these mean for the multifamily industry today.