The sale is representative of a much larger trend both market- and nation-wide, with private investors representing close to 80% of the transactions this year, says Steve Heri of the Anaheim office of CB Richard Ellis. Heri is with the CBRE Private Client Group and, along with Cara Weichman of the Anaheim office, was part of a CBRE team that represented the buyer in the Franklin Avenue sale. The seller, a local family trust, represented by DMR Commercial.

The Franklin Avenue complex consists of eight two-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom units and two two-bedroom, one-bathroom units and was built in 1993. The transaction works out to $135,000 per unit and closed at a cap rate of 6.22%. Heri notes that the sale continues a trend for at least the past 18 months in which private investors have been able to leverage themselves into stable apartment investments due to low interest rates. The rates and the demand for properties have produced what Heri describes as a tidal wave of private capital in the market of late.

Other brokerages note the trend as well, reporting a host of private investor deals. In another Fullerton deal, for example, Sperry Van Ness reports that a private investor bought the 24-unit Compri Apartments at 3504 W Commonwealth for $2.9 million from another private investor. Ruben Khorsandi of Sperry Van Ness in Irvine represented the buyer, with Paul Allen of Allen Properties representing the seller. Built in 1978, the complex includes eight one-bedroom, one-bath units, 16 two-bedroom, one-bath units with rents ranging from $800 to $1,050.