Blackstone is on a selling spree in the Chicago area, recently offloading several multifamily properties to investors with portfolios focused on the area. Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT), the fund that recently made news for limiting investor withdrawals, sold three multifamily properties recently that combined totaled nearly $250 million. The New York-based firm DRA Advisors purchased two of the properties, while San Francisco-based investor Friedkin Property Group acquired the third property. The majority of BREIT’s holdings, 55 percent, are in rental housing.
Despite BREIT’s sell-off in Chicago, where multifamily values have been rising, suburban areas have been popular with multifamily investors given high occupancy rates and rising rents. Like many real estate investors, BREIT’s portfolio is focused on the booming markets in the South and the West, where population and job growth continue to boost real estate markets. When BREIT limited investor withdrawals last month after the fund exceeded its quarterly repurchase limit, many in the industry were worried it was another signal that dark times were ahead for the real estate sector. But then last week, BREIT received a massive $4 billion investment from the University of California’s investment arm, offsetting worries over the under-pressure fund and giving BREIT a longer-term source of capital.
