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Investors Turn Back the Clock on Multifamily Acquisitions
Over 60% of 2025 multifamily trades involve buildings from the 1960s or earlier. The data reveals what’s driving the shift.
Jordan B.
October 17, 2025
Together with
Good morning. Multifamily investors are rewinding the clock. In today’s high-cost market, older apartment buildings—some more than 60 years old—are attracting renewed attention.
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Market Snapshot
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Vintage Value
Investors Turn Back the Clock on Multifamily Acquisitions
In a high-cost capital environment, smaller, older multifamily buildings are gaining traction with investors—and agency financing may be driving the trend.
Two divergent trends: While 2025 office deals are mostly aligned with the age of existing stock (largely built in the 1980s), the multifamily market tells a different story. Recent trades in the multifamily sector are notably older, often dating back to the 1960s or earlier—even in cities where the average inventory is much newer.
Small but standing: Multifamily construction boomed in the 1960s, adding 76,000+ mostly small buildings that still stand today. Later decades saw fewer but larger developments, leaving 1960s-era properties dominant in many metros, especially in the Northeast, Midwest, and legacy coastal cities.
Older deals dominate: Thirty-one metros saw the median multifamily property sold in 2025 built in the 1960s or earlier. In cities like San Francisco, Baltimore, and New Orleans, traded assets were over 30 years older than the median stock. Only a few metros—like Raleigh and Las Vegas—bucked the trend with newer sales.
The capital equation: Older, smaller multifamily properties require less equity and are more accessible in a tight capital market. They also qualify for agency financing—affordable, consistent loans from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—available only for stabilized residential assets. This may be steering capital toward vintage buildings by making financing easier and faster.
➥ THE TAKEAWAY
Big picture: In a capital-constrained market, investors are leaning into vintage multifamily properties—not for nostalgia, but for financing flexibility and lower barriers to entry. Expect the trend to continue until capital loosens or pricing on newer assets resets.
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✍️ Editor’s Picks
Finish 2025 strong: PLG is helping sponsors secure long-term, non-recourse financing before December 31, with fast approvals and the tightest spreads of the year. (sponsored)
Stress test: CMBS special servicing hit a 12-year high in September, led by jumps in mixed-use and lodging loans.
Uneven momentum: The Fed's latest Beige Book reveals a patchy economic picture, with stable employment but mixed signals across U.S. CRE.
Stuck in neutral: CRE salaries nudged up just 4.7% this year as professionals grow restless in a stagnant job market with limited upside and slow-moving recovery.
Prime asset: SL Green is buying Park Avenue Tower for $730M, one of NYC’s biggest office deals this year.
Fed friction: Governor Miran wants a 0.5% cut, while Waller backs a 0.25% cut, reflecting diverging views as the labor market softens.
🏘️ MULTIFAMILY
Priced to move: As NYC median rent hits $3,599, renters priced out of the five boroughs are eyeing more affordable cities where their monthly check could buy a house.
Capital comeback: Multifamily investment is gaining momentum in key California markets as interest rates ease, credit terms improve, and developers prepare for a 2026 rebound.
Affordable flip: LA's housing authority bought Emerald Apartments for $50M to convert them into affordable units, expanding a fast-track strategy to tackle the city’s housing crunch.
Hot spots: Low-priced homes and quick sales are turning Midwestern cities into buyer magnets as large metros cool down.
Dorm demand: Student housing stayed hot in 2025 with occupancy reaching 95.1%, while rent growth cooled to 2.5%.
🏭 Industrial
Made in America: Stellantis is investing $13B to boost U.S. vehicle production by 50%, reopening and upgrading plants across four states.
Turning a corner: Prologis posted record warehouse leasing and raised its development forecast as it ramps up a major data center push.
Industrial underdog: Shallow-bay industrial is gaining investor momentum thanks to short leases, strong rent growth, and limited urban supply.
Growth mode: Prologis is ramping up its data center push, securing 5.2 GW of power and exploring new capital strategies to meet surging AI-driven demand.
🏬 RETAIL
Seasonal slump: Retailers are bracing for the weakest holiday sales growth since the pandemic, as cautious consumers, inflation, and tariffs weigh heavily on spending.
Foot traffic: Retail traffic softened in September after a spring resurgence, with outlet malls seeing the sharpest drop as value-focused shoppers shifted toward discounters and digital deals.
Retail giant: Dallas' NorthPark Center scored a $1.2B refi to consolidate ownership of the nearly fully leased, top-tier shopping destination.
Walmart buys in: Walmart bought a Norwalk shopping center it anchors for $44.5M, marking its third retail property purchase this year.
CVS expansion: CVS has bought 63 Rite Aid and Bartell Drugs locations and 626 prescription files, adding 3,500+ employees in a post-bankruptcy expansion.
🏢 OFFICE
Distressed asset: Vornado’s 650 Madison Ave was sent to special servicing after missed payments, with occupancy and valuation still well below pre-pandemic levels.
South Florida slump: Office rents dipped in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach in Q3, prompting distress sales and landlord exits amid slowing demand.
Tower in trouble: Houston’s landmark ExxonMobil building has landed in bankruptcy after failed residential conversion plans and foreclosure threats stalled its revival.
Leasing rebound: Boston’s office market just posted its strongest quarter since 2019, as trophy towers lead leasing momentum.
🏨 HOSPITALITY
Hotel makeover: Cain bought Manhattan’s Dominick Hotel for $175M and will rebrand it as a Delano after a full renovation.
Opening doors: Hilton’s “Unlocking Doors” program helps first-time hotel investors enter the industry through education, networking, and access to capital.
Mountain migration: Seattle tech workers are snapping up luxury homes in Suncadia, transforming the sunny mountain resort into a year-round retreat.
A MESSAGE FROM AGORA
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📈 CHART OF THE DAY
Data centers have dramatically outperformed the broader private real estate market since 2019—delivering about 75% total returns (half from income, half from appreciation) compared with roughly 24% total returns for the overall sector.<br>
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