U.S. apartment transactions eased during the first three months of 2025, following historical trends. However, on a year-over-year basis, apartment sales (total dollar volume, number of properties, number of units and price per unit) were up.
Roughly 1,277 apartment properties changed hands at a value of $30 billion during 1st quarter 2025, according to MSCI Real Capital Analytics. Overall sales volumes were up 36% year-over-year but were well below 4th quarter 2024 levels when around 1,848 properties changed hands for nearly $48.2 billion. In addition, recent activity was well below the $53.6 billion quarterly average over the past five years.
The average price per unit remained high at $211,356 in 1st quarter, registering above $200,000 for 13 of the past 15 consecutive quarters. Prior to 2021, the per unit pricing never exceeded that threshold and averaged $151,000 from 2015 to 2019. Meanwhile, cap rates have been rising since reaching a pandemic-era low of 4.67% in 2nd quarter 2022. For apartment transactions occurring in 1st quarter 2025, cap rates averaged 5.65%, the highest in nearly nine years.
Source: RealPage
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