Lennar looks to sell 11,000-unit multifamily portfolio as market cools

Another major signal of the lackluster multifamily market: One of the biggest homebuilders in the U.S. is selling thousands of luxury apartments in a move that will likely generate billions of dollars.

Miami-based Lennar — through its subsidiary Quarterra, the company’s luxury multifamily development arm — is marketing more than 11,000 luxury apartments worth roughly $4.5 billion according to BisNow. The news was first reported by Bloomberg Law.

Lennar has hired JLL to market the properties, with Quarterra, looking into dividing the portfolio into smaller components, the outlet said.

Multifamily sales nationwide have slowed, with a 62 percent decline in sales volume during the first three quarters of 2023 compared to the same period in the previous year, the outlet reports citing Yahoo Finance. 

Lennar’s Q4 2023 multifamily revenue stood at $141 million, with an operating loss of $12 million, reflecting a decline from $179 million in the same quarter the previous year. 

In contrast, Lennar’s homebuilding sector performed well in Q4, with nearly 24,000 homes and generating $1.4 billion in earnings. The company, according to Yahoo Finance, expects to deliver 16,500 to 17,000 homes in Q1, with an average selling price of about $420,000.

Lennar’s multifamily news comes just a little over a year after the company announced it’s offering to sell about 5,000 homes to rental landlords.

Most of the homes were in the Southwest and Southeast, with landlords having the opportunity in some cases to buy entire subdivisions. That sale was also in response to a sharp market downturn.

— Ted Glanzer

CORRECTION, Dec. 17, 2023 3:55 p.m. This article was corrected to reflect Lennar hired JLL, not partnered with it