Real estate:

Atlanta firm snatches six apartment complexes for $66 million

Trimont Real Estate Advisors in Atlanta has bought at least six apartment complexes in the Las Vegas Valley this year, including Riverbend Village, 3937 Spencer St., as seen Nov. 14, 2013.

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.

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