PALM DESERT, CA-The owner of the 512-unit Sevilla Apartments has refinanced the property with a $48 million conduit loan via NorthMarq Capital, according to Ory Schwartz, senior director in NorthMarq's Newport Beach office, who arranged the refinancing. The 20-year-old complex occupies a 24-acre site at 73373 Country Club Drive.

Schwartz tells GlobeSt.com that the refinancing enables the Orange County-based private investment group that owns the Sevilla property to lock in a low rate and take out funds for investment in other properties. The apartment complex, which was 90% occupied at the time the financing closed, consists of one- and two-bedroom units in 28 two-story buildings.

The 10-year, fixed-rate financing is an interest-only (no amortization) loan at a low spread over the 10-year Treasury. The first assumption fee is only a quarter of a point, Schwartz notes, meaning that in the event the owners would ever want to sell the property, a buyer could assume the loan for a reasonable amount.

The $48 million refinancing of the Sevilla is the latest in a series of large multifamily transactions lately in the Inland Empire, where industry observers say that more capital has flowed into the multifamily market in recent years than ever before. A Marcus & Millichap report issued in October notes that "Institutional buyers, looking for an alternative to high-priced coastal cities, are accounting for an increasing amount of investment activity" in the Inland Empire.

The report also notes that rapidly expanding areas such as the High Desert and Coachella Valley continue to attract investor interest and that in the Southwest Riverside County submarket, the cities of Temecula and Murrieta recently approved plans for each city's first condo conversions.