Out With The Old: Camden Property Begins $750M Sell-Off
Camden Property Trust sold a 26-year-old apartment complex in Houston as the REIT begins to execute a plan to shuffle assets.
The Houston-based multifamily REIT sold a 337-unit garden-style complex in Houston’s Midtown neighborhood to Denver-based Bow River Capital, according to a release. Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but the 7-acre complex was valued at $55M for tax purposes.
It is the first major sale of the year for Camden Property Trust, which trades under the ticker CPT. Executives at the REIT said during its fourth-quarter earnings call in March that they were looking to close $750M worth of acquisitions and a similar amount of dispositions to rebalance the REIT’s portfolio away from aging properties.
Chief Financial Officer Alexander Jessett said at the time that the REIT would look to make acquisitions before sales to offset tax costs through reverse 1031 exchanges. The REIT purchased two newer properties in Austin and Nashville for a combined $199M in Q1 and also began construction on a 393-unit property in Nashville, The Real Deal reported.
Camden executives reiterated the $750M target on its Q1 earnings call in May and said the firm had seen strong interest from value-add investors as it brings properties to market.
“There are so many funds out there, and a lot of funds that you’ve never even heard of, that have a great deal of capacity. We do have deals in the marketplace,” CEO Rick Campo said. “The folks that are showing up that are making strong bids are more of the local operator — local shops with good-sized funds, good operating histories.”
Campo said the multiyear strategy would impact the REIT’s balance sheet in the short term before translating into faster growth. It will also shift the company’s regional exposure, with Campo telling investors it plans to reduce its overall holdings in Washington, D.C., and Houston.
“You have to remember we’re selling these older assets. Although the yield is a little higher today, the newer assets that we’re buying are going to grow at a faster pace,” he said. “The dilution that you’re seeing, or that we expect to see in the latter part of 2025, should be eliminated in pretty short order as we go into 2026 and 2027 beyond.”
The firm’s anecdotal reports of strong buyer interest are backed up by survey data. A Q1 survey of multifamily investors by Berkadia found that 83% were looking to acquire assets this year, with roughly 30% of buyers seeing the greatest upside in the value-add property class, where Camden is looking to trade. Investment sales are accelerating even as rent growth decelerates.
A JLL team represented Camden in the Houston deal, and Bow River Capital secured a Freddie Mac loan that will also be serviced by the brokerage’s capital business line, according to a release. The property, which had been called Camden Midtown, was rebranded as Hadley Midtown Apartments after the sale.
Camden has a portfolio of more than 170 properties totaling roughly 60,000 units across the country. It posted $39M in net income in the first quarter on $390M in property revenues, and the REIT boosted its full-year guidance, citing higher than anticipated income and lower interest expenses. Its properties were 95.4% occupied at the end of March.
Multifamily REIT operators have had an optimistic outlook for the year, as a wave of new apartment deliveries are absorbed and rent growth is expected to return.
