NYC multifamily sales jump to $1.7B in September

Caiola portfolio and Panthers owner's BK buy among month's deals

Ariel Property Advisors
(credit: Ariel Property Advisors)

Multifamily sales in New York City picked up the pace in September, with dollar volume totaling nearly $1.7 billion, according to new report from Ariel Property Advisors.

Dollar volume jumped 97 percent from August, although sales were down 5 percent year-over-year.

The city saw 134 buildings trade across 60 transactions, an increase of 58 and 25 percent respectively over the previous month.

“As pricing continues to exceed expectations, coupled with a strong investor appetite for properties with scale, we anticipate an increased amount of investment sales activity in the final quarter of 2015,” said Shimon Shkury, president of Ariel Property Advisors.

Manhattan continued to dwarf sales in the outer boroughs, with notable sales like the 24-building Caiola portfolio, which Blackstone Group and Fairstead Capital purchased for $90 million.

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The submarket saw $1.1 billion in gross sales, which accounted for 67 percent of the city’s dollar volume. Manhattan’s dollar volume leaped 324 percent from August, and with 58 sales, building volume was up 480 percent.

In September, Panthers owner Vincent Viola shelled out $35 million for a 12-story rental building in Brooklyn Heights, pushing Brooklyn’s dollar volume up to $200.6 million. Sales in the borough, however, were down almost entirely across the board from August and the previous year. Brooklyn saw 25 building sales and 20 transactions.

Multifamily sales were slowest in Queens, with four transactions involving eight buildings. The borough netted $15.1 million in sales for the month.

In the Bronx, sales were down across building, transaction and dollar volume. The area saw eight building sales from six transactions, including the sale of a 75-unit building in Fordham heights for $10.4 million.