Private equity firms are doing serious damage in the multifamily market, buying $20.17B in the last two weeks alone, CoStar data reveals. 

While PE firms are buying multifamily properties en masse, REITs are anxious to unload theirs, the report said. Fueling the frenzy, Chicago REIT Equity Residential sold 23,000 apartments to Starwood Capital Group for $5.37B.

“We were looking at a challenging market in which to redeploy that capital going forward,” Equity Residential CEO David Neithercut said of the deal. In the last six quarters, publicly traded REITs sold 93,560 units while buying only 59,174, according to CoStar COMPs data.

Instead, REITs are focusing on selling lower-earning assets—at $120k a unit, with a 94% average occupancy—and buying higher-earning, more expensive apartments ($156k a unit, at 92% average occupancy). Overall, multifamily sales are up 10% compared to last year. [CoStar]