Buyers' Multifamily Market Lacks Affordable Housing

Peter Von Der Ahe, senior managing director, Marcus & Millichap

NEW YORK CITY—“When we look at the sales over the past two years, we see the fourth quarter of 2015 in the multifamily sector as very clearly the top of the market and since that time the prices are down, anywhere from 5% to 10%,” says Peter Von Der Ahe, senior managing director at Marcus & Millichap.

Eric Margules, president and CEO of Margules Properties Inc., agrees, noting brokers are circling back to him on properties that were asking $12 million a year ago, which are still languishing on the market. He had offered the $9.5 to $10 million range and at the time was flat out rejected. Now, brokers are telling him they’re sharpening their pencils and maybe can make a deal in the mid-ten range.

Von Der Ahe says in the last year, debt brokers’ incomes have gone up where sales brokers’ incomes have come down. Instead of buyers competing against each other, he’s observing sellers weighing the options of adjusting prices by 10% or making a decision on whether they want to sell or not.

Von Der Ahe moderated the RealShare New York conference panel discussion titled, “Major Issues Impacting New York City’s Multifamily Sector” on Thursday. In addition to Margules, Michael Schneider, COO, Aristone Capital; David Greenberg, managing director, Jane Capital; Richard Conley, senior vice president, The Community Preservation Corporation; and Scott Rowland, managing director, real estate, RemsenCapital served as panelists.