With the perception that real estate values are bottoming, one of the biggest private equity players in the industry is planning to ramp up its property acquisitions in the coming months.
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After spending $8B in the second quarter on mostly real estate buys, as of April 1, New York-based KKR & Co. had closed or was under contract to outlay $10B in real estate equity, KKR co-CEO Scott Nuttall said on the firm's earnings call Wednesday.
“The real estate investment opportunity is highly compelling,” Nuttall said, adding that the firm has a “full pipeline as some owners of real estate seek liquidity and sell their best assets.”
“And in this environment, scale is trading at a discount,” he said.
KKR generated $668M of net income in the second quarter, and its revenue in the first six months of 2024 doubled year-over-year to $13.8B. It increased its assets under management by 16% to $601B, including $152B in real assets, which includes real estate, according to its earnings report.
Last month, KKR purchased 18 multifamily properties from Charlotte-based Quarterra for $2.1B. The apartment portfolio encompasses 5,200 units spread across several states, including California, Washington, Florida, Texas and Georgia. KKR is also under contract in a joint venture with Dalan Management to buy a 43-story Brooklyn apartment tower for $240M, The Real Deal reports.
“We believe this is a great moment to invest in real estate, as transaction activity starts to pick up on the heels of two years of dislocation in commercial real estate markets,” KKR partner and Head of Real Estate Equity in the Americas Justin Pattner said in a press release announcing the Quarterra deal.
KKR is joining a growing chorus of investors signaling that they are getting more aggressive about buying properties. Blackstone bought $34B in real estate in the second quarter, including taking both Apartment Income REIT and Tricon Residential private, after which President Jonathan Gray said CRE values are bottoming out, with more buyers hitting the market.
“Volatility and uncertainty are still with us. So far, 2024 feels like it could be a sweet spot year where values are attractive and activity levels are high,” Nuttall said on the earnings call. “This year, we not only have an open market, we have pent-up supply of deals that didn't get done the last couple of years coming to market, so we are optimistic.”
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