LOS ANGELES—While some are calling 2016 the worst year in history, TruAmerica Multifamily is celebrating. The multifamily investment firm has had a great year with a total of nearly $1 billion in transactions. The yearend total is a 20% increase over the firm's early 2016 projections.

“We were extremely pleased with our performance in 2016. We continued to grow at a brisk pace, even establishing a presence on the East Coast through the acquisition of two portfolios in the Mid-Atlantic region,” Greg Campbell, senior managing director of acquisitions and dispositions for TruAmerica, tells GlobeSt.com. “Despite the rapid growth, we are completing our property-specific business plans across all of our markets, and we have done a terrific job of attaining the rent premiums through renovation that we set out to achieve.” Much of this acquisition was driven by the firm's ability to find strong yields with rental upside and the current cap-rate compressed market conditions.

In the fourth quarter alone, the firm racked up $675 million in total transactions, while selling a total of $275 million in assets. Selling properties that have completed their business plan is new for the young company. “As a three-and-half-year old company, this was the first year in which TruAmerica put into place a purposeful disposition plan,” says Campbell. “We have now matured to the point where we will be balancing our acquisition activity each year with thoughtful dispositions of assets where our business plans have proven successful.” These were not the company's first dispositions, however. In November 2015, TruAmerica exited a 564-unit apartment property in Denver, CO, after meeting its five-year investment objectives in 18 months. The firm also expanded its reach this year, opening a Washington DC office that will focus on East Coast opportunities.

Next year, the firm expects to match this performance, and will stick to its value-add and B-class housing investment strategy. “We continue to see opportunities to maximize our platform in the value-add space,” says Campbell “Our intention is to acquire between $500 million and $1 billion in multifamily assets in 2017. While we expect rent growth to moderate across the country, as we have seen in many markets already, the fundamentals related to demand for class “B” assets are quite good, and we don't expect that to change.”

Instant Insights /

TruAmerica Multifamily Had a Great 2016

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