Investing in rentals slows

The Great Apartment Run of the Mid-2000s appears to be slowing to a brisk walk.

Through Sept. 30, investors spent $604.5 million on apartment complexes in the Triangle, according to CB Richard Ellis data.

And as buyers weigh higher borrowing costs against shrinking returns, some deals are falling apart or being renegotiated. That's causing brokers to doubt that total sales will top last year's record $1.1 billion, which was half the total of all commercial properties sold in 2006.

It would be the first time since 2003 that investors haven't set an apartment-sales record for the calendar year.

But it doesn't herald a depression, said Jeff Glenn, a CB Richard Ellis broker who specializes in apartment sales.

Even if the year ended without another apartment deal, the total would be 71 percent above the annual average over the previous 10 years. But it may signal a subtle shift from sell to hold.

"The commercial real estate market is still healthy," said Jim McMillan, a Grubb & Ellis/ Thomas Linderman Graham broker. "We just got spoiled. We got used to eating steak. Now we're eating hamburger. But we're still eating."

Investment group Sperry Van Ness rated the Triangle among the country's top 10 apartment markets to watch in 2008 because of the region's expanding labor pool, which is driving potential rental growth.

That's likely what allowed Sherman Residential to fetch $24.75 million for Sumner Lake, a 368-unit complex in northwest Raleigh. The buyer, Mission Residential, paid 32 percent more than what Sherman paid in 2001. Average monthly rents at the fully leased, 22-year-old complex off West Millbrook Road climbed 14 percent to $788 in the past year, Triangle Apartment Association data show.

Boylan Development wants to meet the eco-friendly standards of the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, rating system with its planned Windsor Manor upon Six Forks apartment complex in Raleigh and the Landing at Southpoint condo project in Durham. Developers earn LEED points by incorporating energy-saving design and Earth-conscious construction practices.

The Preiss Co. of Raleigh partnered with Harrison Street Real Estate Capital to buy Campus Pointe, an 844-bed apartment property near Auburn University in Alabama. The deal is part of Preiss' goal to buy $150 million in student apartments during the next year.