Marin County apartment investments surge as COVID rent restrictions end

The Marin County apartment market remained robust in 2021 with no slowdown in sales despite government-initiated rent freezes and eviction moratoriums introduced at the beginning of the pandemic.

Now that rent freezes and eviction moratoriums have ended, Marin real estate investors are even more eager to enter the market and are willing to pay higher prices for the properties that hit the market. In 2021 most of the sales in the two- to four-unit category received multiple offers with many properties selling at up to a 20% premium over the asking price.

For example, a well-maintained four plex in central San Rafael was listed at $1.6 million last year and later sold for nearly $1.7 million, with 10 offers submitted on the property. In Greenbrae, an eight-unit property built in the 1960s and owned by the same family for over 40 years came on the market for $3.1 million and sold two weeks later for $3.25 million with multiple offers.

With the tight apartment inventory in Marin, we are seeing increased off-market sales especially in the two- to four-unit category. Many buyers that can’t compete with all cash buyers in the residential market are purchasing small income properties to owner-occupy the property.

In the over-five-units apartment category, Marin saw over $373 million in apartment sales in 2021. That’s not counting the Professional Financial Investors bulk bankruptcy sale of apartment buildings for nearly $500 million.

With Marin County rents rising over 6% in 2021 and an all-time low vacancy rate of just 2.9%, I expect the strong investor demand to continue throughout this year.

Katherine J. Higgins (415-302-7730, katherine@khiggins.com, marinapartmentinvestments.com) is an investment broker associate with Berkshire Hathaway Drysdale Properties in San Rafael.