MANASSAS, VA-Tanglewood Apartments, a 432-unit garden style community here, has traded for $68.7 million, or $159,086 per unit. Equity Residential is selling the property to a New York advisory firm representing a pension fund. Transwestern’s Mid-Atlantic Multifamily Group, headed by Dean Sigmon and Robin Williams, represented the seller. The cap rate was a per forma 5.3%, Sigmon tells GlobeSt.com.

“Expect to see more deals like this in 2012,” Sigmon adds—meaning value add, 1987-or-so vintage assets. “The sweet spot for value add investing has been properties built in the 1960s or so and then renovated,” Sigmon says. “Now we think that is shifting to properties build in the mid-1980s to early 1990s.” The reason, Williams says, is simple: the ROI is better for the more recent properties. “Also, Prince William County in particular is rewarding investors with reasonable rent premiums after they make improvements to their properties,” he adds.

Tanglewood Apartments is located in the Bull Run area of Manassas. The apartments average about 856 square feet with one- and two-bedroom floor plans. The new owner will be making improvements to the property but Sigmon and Williams could not discuss specifics about that.

The vacancy rate for class B apartments in the DC area is approximately 1.5%, according to Delta Associates. This makes the area one of the best performing apartment markets in the nation.

In the prior 12 months ending September 2011, rents rose 3.8%, Delta reported, with rent growth for class B garden apartments in Northern Virginia increasing 4.8% during this same time period.