VEGAS INC coverage
Prowling for discounts, an Atlanta real estate firm has been on a Las Vegas buying binge.
Trimont Real Estate Advisors acquired at least four distressed apartment complexes last month and two others in May, spending $66 million.
The company bought the properties from Fannie Mae, the government-controlled mortgage finance giant, which had acquired them through the foreclosure process, Clark County records show.
They include the 272-unit Copper Hills Apartments in Henderson; the 256-unit Sedona Hills Apartments on Charleston Boulevard near Fremont Street; and the 212-unit Riverbend Village Apartments on Spencer Street between Maryland Parkway and Eastern Avenue, near UNLV.
Local apartment complexes are selling this year for an average of about $61,400 per unit, according to Colliers International. Trimont shelled out $66,200 per unit for Copper Hills but spent $49,300 per unit for Riverbend and just $38,300 per unit for Sedona Hills.
A spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
Its acquisitions come as investors snap up apartment complexes around the valley, thanks to low prices, cheap financing and a large base of potential renters who — because of past foreclosures, bankruptcies and other financial woes — can’t afford to buy a place.
Southern Nevada’s apartment market had a 5.9 percent vacancy rate in the second quarter and average asking rents of $807 a month, according to Colliers. Two years earlier, it had an 8.3 percent vacancy rate and asking rents of $770 a month.