A portfolio of Manhattan rental properties is set to trade for the largest price in a New York apartment deal since the pandemic began, a boost for the multifamily sector amid recession and rate hike fears.

Black Spruce Management and Orbach Affordable Housing Solutions have agreed to buy six of the residential buildings that were developed by the late Sheldon Solow, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The six buildings contain a total of 1,700 units, 15% of which are rent-stabilized. Increasing interest rates, a looming recession and increasing regulation are all cause for concern for the future of the city, real estate players have cautioned.

“People are still going to need apartments; there’s still a lot of demand,” John Pawlowski, the residential-property sector head at Green Street, told the WSJ. “We’ll see what happens in the economy, but 2022 and 2023 should be very good years for apartment landlords in New York City.”

Residential owners in the city are benefiting from enormous rent increases. In May, the median rent in Manhattan hit $4K for the first time. This month, New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board voted to allow landlords of rent-stabilized apartments to raise rents by up to 3.25% for one-year leases and 5% for two-year leases starting in October.

This deal will come as a piece of positive news. Many have claimed New York City is becoming increasingly unattractive to investors, and buyers are looking at other parts of the city to invest.

“We have clients who for decades only bought New York City apartment buildings, all of a sudden buying in Texas and Florida and Tennessee and Nevada and Arizona,” JLL Investment Sales Chairman Bob Knakal told Bisnow at the REBNY annual event last week. “These are folks who wouldn't even look in New Jersey previously."