Multifamily investment specialist Bell Partners has closed on a fund that will give it the ability to acquire roughly $3.2B of properties across the country.

The North Carolina-based firm closed its Value-Add Fund VIII at $1.3B, above its target of $1B, it said in a press release. Investors include domestic and international entities, many of whom put money into the company's previous funds, according to the release.

With leverage, the fund has investment capacity of about $3.2B, which will allow it to invest in “renovations, enhanced operations, and investment in transitioning neighborhoods,” according to a company statement.

The fund is targeting market-rate properties in 14 markets nationwide, including Sun Belt cities Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta; Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa, Florida; and the Texas markets of Austin and Dallas. Bell is also looking at acquisitions on the coasts in Boston, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.

Bell has already been active in the Bay Area as other investors are heading for the exits. Last year, Bell purchased Cadence Apartments, a 260-unit multifamily property in South San Francisco, for $206M.

San Francisco's largest apartment owner, Veritas Investments, is delinquent on $1B of loans backing nearly 2,500 units.

The fund is Bell's ninth. The company closed on its $930M Bell Core Venture last year, which has an investment capacity of about $1.8B and focused on market-rate apartments.

Multifamily, which had seen rent growth north of 20% in many of the markets Bell is targeting, has cooled off this year. Rents have fallen in Sun Belt markets like Austin and Tampa as vacancy hit a two-year high in May.

Multifamily investment prices are down 19% over the past year after peaking in March 2020, according to Green Street.