Coronavirus may have paused Tampa Bay's apartment market, but it's 'ramping back up quite rapidly'
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 23, 2020

In the spring, the novel coronavirus pandemic looked like a potential correction for Tampa Bay’s apartment market — a correction some thought was long overdue. But deals are starting to ramp up again, and Covid-19 may have been more of a pause than a correction.

Some of the deals, like Radco Investors of Atlanta’s sale of two Clearwater properties for a combined $92 million, are spurred by a mindset of preparing for a coming crash.

But on the other side, there are investors — like the firms that purchased Radco’s two properties — making bets that there is plenty of runway left in the region’s apartment market, which has seen record-setting sales in recent years. “There’s people betting every day one way or another,” said Darron Kattan, managing director at Franklin Street in Tampa. “Generally speaking, there are people at very smart and large companies making bets that we have a long runway before any crash, and there are very smart people making bets that it’s going to crash at some point soon.”

The Covid-induced turmoil in other sectors of commercial real estate — particularly hospitality and retail — has investors flocking to multifamily, which has remained mostly stable throughout the pandemic.

“Investor demand is up, actually, in terms of equity and capital looking for the safest places to invest,” Kattan said.

Anthony Everett, Central Florida director for Atlanta-based Rangewater Real Estate, said multifamily properties in Florida and especially Tampa Bay are faring better than those elsewhere. The influx of new residents — those fleeing densely populated areas as well as higher taxes — drives demand for apartments.

“Low interest rates are helping fuel that, but it’s a demographic shift as well,” Everett said of the activity in multifamily real estate. “It all bodes well for Florida in the long term.”