Equity Residential recently purchased two apartment properties for a total of 634 units in the Atlanta area. The properties, Richmond Row Apartments and The Baxter, are located in Suwanee and Decatur, Georgia, respectively. The seller’s information has been withheld.
EQR got a head start in the third quarter with the acquisition of the Richmond Row apartment property in Suwanee, Georgia for $98 million, according to its third-quarter earnings report. The 344-unit asset has access to Interstate 95 and the median household income in the area and among its residents is around $100,000.
“This asset is brand new and is still in lease-up, and we expect it will stabilize at a 5.4%, year two acquisition cap rate,” EQR CEO Mark Parrell said on the REIT’s third-quarter earnings call. “The median home price in the desirable area where the property sits is $600,000, which assuming a normal down payment in current interest rates, equates to an all-in housing cost at 2.5 times our pro forma rents.”
In addition, EQR bought The Baxter, a 290-unit property built in 2019 in Decatur, Georgia for approximately $81.7 million at an acquisition cap rate of 5.1%. The REIT assumed low-cost debt on the transaction. The four-story property has rents between $1,560 and $3,480, according to Apartments.com.
“This property is located in an upscale mixed-use development, though we acquired none of the retail, with a resident base having high-paying jobs at the large education and medical employers nearby,” Parrell said.
