2013 was a relatively quiet year for multifamily sales. After some fairly large deals over the past few years, there were relatively few large deals this year, save for a pending portfolio of 5 buildings in the West End and North Vancouver that were marketed by CBRE.

Why so few large deals? Chalk it up to a lack of sellers and values that have reached unsustainable heights. Buyers continue to be well-established owners looking to slowly build their portfolios, or local and offshore private equity simply looking to place capital in safe locations.

Here are the top 5 apartment deals of 2013 (ranked by purchase price):

1. 1952 Comox Street – a building known as “The Breakers” sold to well known landlords Hollyburn Properties in August for $16,350,000. The 10-storey, 61 unit building was built 1964. The cap rate was reported to be 4.8%. This was an off-market deal.

2. 1929 West 3rd Avenue – This 53-unit Kits lowrise apartment was put on the market with the Goodmans in 2012 and sold in January of this year for $15,200,000; equating to a 3.8% cap rate and $286,000 per unit. The building was built in 1973 and contains 47 one-bedrooms and 6 two-bedrooms.

3. 1715 West 11th Avenue – Granville Villa, a 65-unit apartment building located at West 11th Avenue and Pine Street in the South Granville area of Vancouver sold in July for $14,867,000; equating to a 3.3% cap rate, and $228,000 per unit. The 3-storey building was built in 1973 and contains mostly one-bedrooms and bachelor units. The building had been listed for sale for $16,500,000. The buyer was local private equity.

4. 990 Bute Street – this 36-unit apartment building at the corner of Nelson and Bute was sold off-market to well-known apartment owner Belmont Properties in May 2013. The building had been fully renovated by the previous owner. The $13,000,000 purchase price represents a 4.1% cap rate and $360,000 per unit.

5. 30 East 11th Avenue – This 66-unit highrise was purchased by local investor Raymond Heung in August. The 10-storey concrete building was built in 1976 and was formerly owned by The Baptist Housing Society of B.C.

Bentall Kennedy, on behalf Sun Life, has applied to the City of Vancouver to rezone a one and a half acre existing apartment property known as Forte Apartments at 1755 West 14th Avenue from RM-3  to CD-1. The application is being made under the City’s Rental 100 program to allow a 100% market-rental development, including:

• retention of the existing 13-storey, market-rental building;
• the addition of two new buildings:
  • a 12-storey apartment building;
  • a 3-storey townhouse building;
• the addition of 122 new market-rental units in the two new buildings;
• a proposed total denisty of 3.56 FSR;
• 89,129 sq. ft. of new floor area

Mayan Apartments, a 16-unit apartment building at West 3rd and Maple Street in Kits, has sold for $4,275,000, or a 3.9% cap rate and $267,000 per unit. The building had been listed for sale for $4,785,000.