Apartment Market Survey Shows Multifamily Demand

A mid-year survey of Northwest Arkansas’ apartment market shows continued high occupancy rates in the four largest cities.

Conducted by CBRE-Northwest Arkansas, the survey of 22,276 apartment units out of about 28,000 in the region found that Rogers continues to have the highest occupancy rate, at 97.1 percent.

Bentonville had the second-highest rate, at 96.3 percent. The city also saw the biggest increase in occupancy, which was at 95 percent six months ago.

Fayetteville and Springdale saw their apartment occupancy rates fall in the last six months — from 96.3 percent to 94.9 percent for Fayetteville and from 93 percent to 90.8 percent for Springdale.

The survey results were presented in a report by Brian J. Donahue, senior associate with Tulsa-based CBRE-NWA.

Donahue wrote in the report that there were only two transactions in the first half of the year involving properties with more than 50 units.

The 62-unit Polo Square Apartments in Bentonville sold for close to $28,000 per unit, while the upscale Reserve at Steele Crossing in Fayetteville, with 272 units, sold for more than $71,000 per unit.

Buyer demand nationwide is mostly for luxury properties and bank-owned or distressed properties, Donahue wrote.

“With multifamily fundamentals projected to stay strong, along with the fact that multifamily remains the product of choice for investment real estate, expect apartment transaction activity in Northwest Arkansas to pick up during the second half of 2012,” he wrote.