Brookfield Strategic Real Estate Partners acquired 17 multifamily properties, and it’s thanks to a $210M loan from Capital One. No wonder Capital One wanted the deal: With a REIT borrower, multifamily product, and properties in the top US markets, what's not to love?

Capital One REIT Finance Group SVP Michael Sleece tells us the 17 loans were structured as separate facilities with no cross-defaulting or cross-collateralization. The deal included five Houston assets, which were in the cream of the crop; he says multifamily asset financing continues to be a favored product for all types of lenders, and Houston is one of the nation’s favored markets. That resulted in tremendous competition to win the financing. (If only everyone competed so hard to lend us $10 to pay off our Super Bowl prop bet. We could’ve sworn Renee Fleming would wear pink gloves.)

The Houston properties are London Park (pictured), Marymont, Skylar Pointe, Towne Lake, and Woodtrail. Michael says they’re all solid assets with vacancy rates ranging from 2.7% to 6% and upward rent growth in the past year. With this acquisition, Brookfield Strategic Real Estate Partners added 4,300 units to its global portfolio. (That's a lot more birthdays to remember.) Michael tells us lending appetite is strong for REITs in general because they've continually demonstrated they'll maintain conservative balance sheets, have some of the highest quality management teams in commercial real estate, and invest in institutional-quality assets.