Morgan Properties, the nation’s largest private owner of multifamily communities, dropped $501M to acquire a portfolio of 3,054 units in eight Midwest states from Trilogy Real Estate Group.

The communities, spread across 11 assets in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and Tennessee, were built between 1989 and 2018.

The company has eyes on a rental boom in the Midwest similar to the one seen in the Sun Belt.

“The Sunbelt was obviously hot post-Covid,” Morgan Properties co-President Jonathan Morgan told The Wall Street Journal. “At the moment, it’s the Midwest.”

The firm owned just two Midwestern multifamily properties and a total of 793 units in the area before 2019. With Morgan Properties' latest buy, its regional count is up to 14,500 units, according to the outlet.

The acquisition marks the biggest deal in the multifamily sector in 2025, CoStar data shows.

Properties acquired in the deal include:

• NoCa Blue (138 units) – Chicago, Illinois.

• Bradford at Easton (324 units) – Columbus, Ohio.

• Central Park (292 units) – Columbus, Ohio.

• Crescent Centre (209 units) – Louisville, Kentucky.

• Park Laureate (272 units) – Louisville, Kentucky.

• Pointe At St. Joseph (202 units) – South Bend, Indiana.

• Reflection Cove (194 units) – St. Louis, Missouri.

• Residences at the Streets of St. Charles (309 units) – St. Louis, Missouri.

• Villas at Bailey Ranch (408 units) – Tulsa, Oklahoma.

• Waterchase (386 units) – Grand Rapids, Michigan.

• Waterford Place (320 units) – Memphis, Tennessee

The acquisition brings Morgan Properties' holdings to over 100,000 units across the country.

As developers honed in on the Sun Belt region, where people migrated in droves during and after the pandemic, the Midwest has emerged as one of the most undersupplied regions in the country.

Midwestern multifamily totaled 28,000 units in February, down 66% annually, according to a RealPage analysis of data from the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development, the WSJ reported. Lack of supply has boosted rents in the region even as other areas saw slowdowns.

“As we continue to strategically expand our national portfolio, we remain selective and opportunistic in this environment," the company said in a press release.