Gebroe-Hammer Associates has sold three properties totaling nearly 900 units for nearly $88.9 million combined.
“In general, no new competitive stock has been introduced in South Jersey during the past 18 to 24 months, nor is any on the books for 2018 or 2019,” said Eli Herskowitz, sales associate and the firm’s South Jersey market specialist. “This, coupled with the trend of growing employment throughout the Philadelphia metro, has prompted many of the region’s apartment owners — who recognize the window to garner the highest competitive sale price may be closing — to sell.”
Gebroe-Hammer is located in Livingston.
Most recently, the brokerage team of Herskowitz and Managing Director Joseph Brecher represented the seller and procured the buyer in the $12 million off-market sale of Burlington Court Apartments in Burlington City.
Located at 870 E. Route 130 N., the 201-unit complex features a mix of one- and two-bedroom units less than 21 miles from Center City Philadelphia, and 15 miles from Trenton.
Burlington Court, which was built in 1971 and renovated in 1995, sits along the Route 130 Corridor/Burlington County River Route, near Interstate 295, County Road 541, the Burlington Bristol Bridge and New Jersey and Pennsylvania turnpikes.
“Due to Burlington Court’s strategic location, historically stabilized occupancy rates and well-maintained grounds and buildings, we were able to identify the buyer in less than one day,” Herskowitz said. “The buyer plans to reposition the property through capital improvements in order to bring it up to market rates.”
Within the Camden West submarket — the second-strongest Philadelphia-metro submarket, behind Center City — the Brecher/Herskowitz team also arranged the $12.25 million sale of a 216-unit garden-apartment complex.
The apartment-home community located 17 miles southeast of Philadelphia includes spacious units and amenities such as a pool and sundeck.
The team also sold 443 units in Gloucester County for $64.6 million.
“Over the course of 2018, rents are expected to inch upward, which bodes well for investors seeking multifamily investment opportunities,” said Brecher, who noted South Jersey investors have the same criteria as Central and North Jersey investors.
According to REIS, current average asking rents are $1,045, $1,058 and $1,064 for the Gloucester, Burlington and Camden West submarkets, respectively.
“Investors want the same things regardless of their New Jersey geographic target market: proximity and transit-link accessibility to a major metro, a tenant-base pipeline of college-educated millennials and empty-nesters and nearby lifestyle conveniences,” he said.
