Ethos Real Estate Buys Sunnyvale Apartments for $68 Million

An apartment complex sale in Sunnyvale could signal continued post-pandemic value recovery in the Silicon Valley multifamily market.

Manhattan Beach-based Ethos Real Estate purchased The Crossings apartments at 1180 Lochvinar Avenue for $67.7 million, Mercury News reported, citing documents filed on Wednesday with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office. Los Altos-based Interstate Equities was the seller of the 148-unit residential complex, located just within Sunnyvale’s city limits and down the street from Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino. Ethos Real Estate received a $50 million loan from an affiliate of Brightspire Capital at the time of purchase.

The purchase price works out to approximately $457,100 per unit, the latest transaction in the South Bay that points to some strength in the local apartment market, according to Mercury News. The price was 6.5 percent higher than the $63.5 million that Interstate Equities paid for The Crossings apartments in 2018.

Multifamily properties in Sunnyvale have attracted above-average sales prices over the past year.

Last November, San Mateo-based Essex Property Trust acquired the 250-unit apartment property at 1250 Lakeside Drive for $143.5 million, or approximately $574,000 per unit. And last August, San Francisco-based Prime Residential bought the Citra apartments at 745 South Bernardo Avenue for $68.5 million, or about $466,000. That signified a nearly $20 million jump in value from the 147-unit property’s 2014 sale price of $50.2 million.

The five-year average for per-unit prices at Santa Clara County properties with more than 100 units totals about $458,000, according to CBRE data cited by the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

At the same time, average rent prices in Sunnyvale are lower than those in neighboring Silicon Valley cities like Mountain View, Cupertino and Santa Clara. Average monthly rent prices in Sunnyvale were about $2,125, per the Business Journal, a figure which is “lower than reality,” Kara Wiard, head of acquisitions at Prime, previously told The Real Deal.

— Chris Malone Méndez