Who needs New York or Chicago when you've got the Heart of Dixie? Multi Housing Advisors (MHA) brokered the sale of five multifamily communities in Alabama: two Class-A deals and three REO sales, showing private investor interest in secondary and tertiary markets.

MHA managing director Jimmy Adams tells us the assets total 1,060 units and sold for $68M. The two Class-A deals were in Huntsville, a tertiary market that has strong demographics and lots of growth. In fact, most new construction in Alabama across asset classes is there. (It's also the birthplace of comedian Paula Poundstone, so get ready to laugh.) He says these sales made up the largest transaction volume in Huntsville/Madison over the last 12 months. The buyers were out of state private capital. Jimmy tells us cap rates are at a historic low in Alabama; secondary and tertiary markets are grabbing 6% caps, and core product is in the 5% range.

Weve heard lots of chatter about investors abandoning uber-competitive primary markets to seek yield in secondary and tertiary markets, and Jimmy says that played out here. The Huntsville assets (above, Springs at Madison) pulled in 50% more tours and offers than a similar property a year ago. The latter three deals were REO sales in Mobile; Jimmy says they also drew plenty of attention because there havent been many REO opportunities recently, and value-add investors over the last year have been successfully turning their properties around. His firm has an REO listing in Pensacola and is bringing two more to market in Panama City, Fla. in a few weeks, and he expects theyll generate a lot of interest.