Houston apartments change hands as Wisconsin buys portfolio of workforce housing

A Wisconsin company purchased several Houston workforce housing properties as part of a portfolio transaction, CBRE announced this morning. The 10 properties acquired by commercial real estate investor MLG Capital were built in the 1970s and ’80s and charge relatively affordable rents due to their age. The sale included two apartment complexes in west Houston, at 2475 Gray Falls Drive and 1015 Country Place Drive, and two in northwest Houston, at 12811 Greenwood Forest Drive and 905 Cypress Station Drive. Workforce housing, or housing with relatively low rents, has been a hot commodity as demand outpaces supply. Most multifamily construction has focused on luxury apartments, noticed the commercial real estate firm Marcus & Millichap. “With workforce housing at its lowest level in 20 years, prospective renters will face difficulty finding an available unit to occupy,” the company wrote in its multifamily investment forecast released this week. As a result, Marcus & Millichap is expecting workforce apartment rents to increase 4.3 percent over 2020, compared with 3.3 percent for luxury apartments. Click to read more at www.chron.com.