(Carl Cronan is editor of Real Estate Florida.)

TAMPA, FL-Cushman & Wakefield's locally based Florida Apartment Brokerage Services group finished 2008 with a bang, closing more than $110 million worth of transactions statewide. But rather than beating the calendar on anticipated capital-gains taxes in the new year, brokers say sellers were trying to make sound deals in a continually soft market.

The transactions totaled 1,385 units at an average sale price of $79,700, according to Byron Moger, executive director with C&W's Tampa office. December's sales ranged from the $38.1-million purchase of the 302-unit Pembroke CoveApartments in Pembroke Pines by Scully Inc., at $126,160 per unit, to the $6.7-million sale of the 150-unit Palm Lake complex in Tampa, at $45,000 per unit, by Apartment Investment and Management Co.

"Most of the deals are purely driven by strategic and portfolio decisions," Moger tells GlobeSt.com. He says sellers were smart about doing whatever was needed to get deals done, while buyers saw long-term values in Florida and recognized attractive buying opportunities compared to price peaks occurring between 2004 and 2006.

"It took hefty slugs of equity to put the deals together and lenders were, at best, balky," Moger says. "It required all the experience and relationships that seasoned investors could muster on the buy side to close these deals."

Multifamily brokers predicted that apartment owners would step up activity and try to close no later than Dec. 31 to avoid higher taxes on sales gains. The motivation is believed to have narrowed the gap between asking prices, particularly by sellers who bought rental units in recent years, and buyers hunting for bargains during the downturn.

Instant Insights /

Apartment Sales Finish Strong in December

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