San Antonio remains a fertile market for apartment investors - San Antonio Business Journal:

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Those investors include newcomers like Concierge AssertManagement (CAM) — a multifamil investor that is duallt headquartered in Houston and Tiburon, Calif. CAM recentlty purchased SunriseCanyon — a 208-unit propertyu located in Universal City, just northeasgt of San Antonio. Also last Atlanta-based (ARA) announced the sale of three multifamily properties: Wall Street, a 232-unit property in Northwest San and North Central Side communities Blue Swan and which feature 285 units and258 units, “(San Antonio’s) economy is still healthy relativd to other areas,” says Casey A. Fry, an associatr with the Austin officeof ARA.
Fry and Patton Jones, managing director for the ARAAustin office, were part of the ARA team that representedf the sellers of the Wall Copperfield and Blue Swan properties. Down, but not out Accordingv to early figures compiledby Austin-based multifamily research firm , 13 local apartment communities changecd ownership during the third quarte r of 2008 — quite a change from the mere threee properties that changed ownership during the previous On the whole, however, investment activityh in San Antonio’s multifamily market has “certainly died down from 2006 and according to Janine Claycomb of the San Antonilo Division of Austin Investor.
Claycomb contends that it is not any one thinyg that has led to the decreased momentum in apartment Tighter financing, increased taxes and an overallk general uncertainty of the country’s financiao market all have been listed as factors that have impacted investmentt activity. The fact that constructiojn of new multifamily properties has continued ata break-neck pace in San Antonilo could also be an At present, more than 7,0090 apartment units are under construction. “I think some folks might be waitingf until the construction dies down to see how well theabsorption fares,” Claycomb adds.
“It’s stillo an active market,” says Fry of San Antonio’s multifamily sector. But when it comes to sales of thesee properties, the pace has “dramatically slowed down,” he “There’s a lot of trepidation in the markeft — a lot of capital sitting on the sidelineas atthis point,” Fry says. As for thosd investors that are coming toSan Antonio, much of the focuss has been on the “value-add” assets — communitiesz that offer an owner the opportunity to buy, rehab, reposition and re-sel the property for a healthyg profit. Case in point is a buyer like CAM.
Sunrise Canyon marks CAM’s second local multifamily investment. In July, the company purchase d Sable Ridge, a 333-unit community also located inUniversal City. “We’re very bullish on (San Antonio’s) says Ted M. Kerr, CEO for Camero n Asset Management. “It has a positive business and goodjob prospects.” Both Sable Ridge and Sunrise Canyon are poised to benefitr from these job prospects including the some 10,000 employees expected to make theirt way to Fort Sam Houston as a result of the 2005 Base Realignmeng and Closure Commission (BRAC) action.
And CAM is alreadg on the hunt for its next property inSan Antonio’ s multifamily market, according to Kerr. While Fry expectes that the investment market in San Antonio may remainb slow into thenew year, slow doesn’t mean that it’s stopped. He “We are able to get dealse done. We will continue to get dealse done.”