Ken Uranowitz, president, Gebroe-Hammer Associates

LIVINGSTON, NJ—With continued headwinds in the single-family homes market and an uncertain economic and political environment keeping renters at bay, robust demand for apartment investment assets in 2018 have paved the path for 2019, according to Gebroe-Hammer Associates. The New Jersey-based firm, which is the top multifamily brokerage firm throughout the New Jersey, New York State and Greater Philadelphia Metro corridor, closed out 2018 with more than $1.1 billion in total transactions—a positive indicator of favorable conditions in the next 12 months.

“Since Gebroe-Hammer's primary focus is multifamily property sales, these totals are solely attributed to apartment buildings that run the full spectrum of asset classes – from class-A trophy buildings to value-add class B/C midrise properties and garden communities poised for capital improvements, unit renovations and repositioning,” says Ken Uranowitz, Gebroe-Hammer president, who joined the firm at its inception in 1975. “No other firm—regional or national—within our submarkets can even come close to these benchmarks, which exclude office, industrial, retail properties and leasing activity.”

During the month of December alone, Gebroe-Hammer arranged 14 trades valued in excess of $114.21 million encompassing 1,076 units. These spanned North and Central Jersey's Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Union and Monmouth counties (nine deals/472 units/$58.5 million) as well as Greater Philadelphia/South Jersey (five deals/605 units/$55.71 million).

Gebroe-Hammer exceeded its record-breaking 2015 and 2016 transaction benchmarks in 2017 by recording four separate sales exceeding $100 million each. Among these was one of the nation's top-20 single-asset multifamily deals of the year.

“Our brokerage professionals are deeply entrenched in the tri-state area's ever-evolving multifamily investment markets. As a result, our area expertise, coupled with an expanding client base and services, has grown at a pace commensurate with the surging development and gentrification of urban and suburban municipalities during the past decade,” says Uranowitz.

According to Reis, the North Jersey, Central Jersey and Greater Philadelphia metros have experienced consistent rent increases over the past 12 months of +5.5%, +2.5% and +6.9%, respectively. Philadelphia was a leader in terms of effective rent growth nationwide.

Since 1975, Gebroe-Hammer's brokerage activities have concentrated on all multifamily types, from high-rise to garden-apartment properties. In addition to its focus on apartment buildings, Gebroe-Hammer markets mixed-use and free-standing office and retail properties.

Instant Insights /

Gebroe-Hammer's $1.1B/8,200 MF Unit Sales in 2018 are Springboard for 2019

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