Israeli group wants $26M for portfolio of Broward rentals

It’s no secret that the multifamily market in South Florida has been hot this year, with $4 billion worth of property trades in 2016’s first six months alone. But what about single-family rentals?

One group of Israeli investors is hoping that the appetite for assets transfers to houses, as they’ve just listed 136 single-family homes in Broward County for $26 million.

The homes are spread throughout Broward, from as far south as Hollywood up to Deerfield Beach in the north. County records show they’re owned by a handful of separate holding companies, whose managing members are Shay Milech, Shay Atiya and Noam Hanoch Avrahami.

(Click to enlarge) Aerial of the portfolio from Cushman & Wakefield

The asking price breaks down to $191,176 per home, or just under $134 per rentable square foot.

Calum Weaver of Cushman & Wakefield, who’s marketing the portfolio, announced the listing Thursday. He told The Real Deal that the investors had assembled the homes over the past several years through auctions, foreclosures and straight-up sales.

They then spent $5.8 million on renovating much of the portfolio and brought its occupancy up to 98 percent. About half of the rentals are occupied by Section 8 tenants, he said. Rents average $1,639 per month for each home, bring in gross annual income of $2.7 million.

The most recent deal of this size was last year when private equity firm Cerberus Capital made its first foray into the landlord business by picking up 174 single-family homes in Broward from Five Ten Florida for $29 million. That deal was just part of Cerberus’s larger acquisition of Five Ten’s portfolio of 1,500 rentals spread throughout Florida, Illinois and Texas.