WASHINGTON, D.C. — Alden Torch Financial, which spun off from Hunt Cos. last year in a management buyout deal, has burst onto the multifamily scene to become the largest multifamily housing owner in the United States.
As of Jan. 1, 2016, Alden Torch owned 191,759 multifamily units, topping the next largest owner by more than 57,000 units, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC).
The Washington, D.C-based organization this week released the 2016 edition of the NMHC 50, which ranks the top owners, managers, developers and contractors in the U.S. multifamily sector. The rankings are based on the number of units owned and managed at the start of 2016, or units of new construction started in 2015 for developers and contractors.
The 10 largest multifamily owners in the United States, according to National Multifamily Housing Council. Click to view larger.
“The apartment industry continued its bull run in 2015, as demand for both apartment homes and apartment properties intensified,” says Mark Obrinsky, NMHC’s senior vice president of research and chief economist. “Big transactions were more common than usual, causing some noteworthy changes in the NMHC 50 rankings.”
Hunt Cos. was the top multifamily owner for two years running before spinning off its multifamily portfolio, so it’s no surprise that Alden Torch leads owners despite being a brand-new company.
Outside of Alden Torch replacing Hunt Cos. on the list, there was only one change in the ranking of the top 10 owners. PNC Real Estate and Boston Capital switched places to second and third, respectively. The swap was due to PNC’s addition of 3,564 units, boosting its total to 134,364 total units. Meanwhile, Boston Capital shrank its unit count by 9,998 to 129,936.
The company with the biggest gain among owners was Starwood Capital Group, which added 13,859 units to bring it to 42,702 total and 30th on the list. Fairfield Residential Co., which added 13,638 units to a total of and jumped from 30th to 21st on the list and now owns 50,733 units. No other owners added more than 10,000 units in 2015.
Greystar Successfully Defends Its Title
The ranking of the top five property managers was unchanged, with Greystar Real Estate Partners once again taking the top position. The South Carolina-based company built its lead by adding more than 20,500 units to its portfolio between 2015 and 2016, for a total of 413,679 units managed. Lincoln Property Co., ranked second, manages less than half that many units with 165,251.
Among developers, Alliance Residential Co. maintained its first-place position in this year’s rankings. In 2014, the company started 7,500 new multifamily units, which it increased to 7,765 in 2015. Second-place Mill Creek Residential Trust, which was also second last year, increased its new construction starts from 5,397 units to 6,567.
Alliance also took first place among general contractors, despite it being the Phoenix-based company’s first year as a general contractor. All 7,765 units started in 2015 by Alliance as a developer will also be built by the company as a contractor.
Alliance is not the only new face in the general contractors listing, either. Of the top 25 contractors by new starts in 2015, 15 did not make last year’s list and five, including Alliance, had no new starts in 2014 at all.
Click here to view the full report and rankings.
— Jeff Shaw