Wall Street Giant Swallows Up 12,000 More Apartments For $5.8 Billion

Blackstone Inc. bought out Preferred Apartment Communities and the 12,000 apartments it owned in the Southeast for $5.8 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Blackstone is one the world’s largest commercial property owners, and it purchased the Atlanta-based apartment owner with its largest fund, which raised more than $50 billion in the last five years, according to the WSJ.

Preferred Apartments owns 107 properties in 13 states, including 54 shopping centers and the 40 apartment properties, the WSJ reported. Most of the company’s value reportedly comes from its rental apartments, and the sale is expected to close later this year, pending the approval of shareholders.

Blackstone executive Jacob Werner called the properties “high quality multifamily assets in key Sunbelt markets” and referred to the retail properties as “necessity-oriented assets located in areas with growing populations well positioned for continued growth,” the WSJ reported.

Blackstone has been scooping up homes throughout the pandemic, buying more than 17,000 single-family homes for $6 billion in June 2021 and pouring $240 million into Toronto-based single-family rental company Tricon Residential in 2020, according to the WSJ. Large, institutional investors like Blackstone reportedly own only about 2% of single-family homes in the U.S.