Transactions may be slowing in Dallas-Forth Worth multifamily, but prices keep getting better if you're a seller. Already this year, DFW multifamily deal volume is down 17% from last year. (If only deal volume correlated to waistline.) Finding product to sell is a challenge, says Sperry Van Ness | TJF Commercial Real Estate managing director Todd Franks (right, with colleague Sean Reynolds). Across DFW last year, CoStar listed 341 multifamily transactions of 50 units or more, Todd tells us. So far this year, the number is at 142 (on track to do 284).

There's also more competition to get into a deal, which is driving the rising prices, Todd says. One property he currently has in escrow didn't have much of an operating history for the previous year because of a fire there. Yet, that project received an immediate non-refundable earnest money offer within two weeks of listing. Also, there's a lot of foreign investors who are willing to pay more than a local buyer (and with more colorful money), he says. The Japanese have tax breaks for buying older properties. And Chinese investors aren't confident in their own economy, so they're willing to pay more for US deals.