Philadelphia multifamily investors in ‘dealmaking mode’ as rate cuts bring buyers back to market
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Philadelphia multifamily investors in ‘dealmaking mode’ as rate cuts bring buyers back to market

By December 5, 2025No Comments

From historic downtown apartment towers to portfolios in neighborhoods adjacent to Center City, sales of Philadelphia multifamily properties are picking up.

Both The Drake and The Lofts at 1835 Arch sold in November. And the trades aren’t just among the largest assets.
Forty-one units in University City. Thirty-five units in Fairmount. Twenty-one units in Center City. All three recently closed for around $5 million each and represented a key shift. As interest rates dropped in recent months, deals are reaching the finish line more frequently.

The 21-unit apartment building at 1001 Pine St. in Center City was recently sold.
by Paul Schwedelson
Published Nov. 30, 2025,

“Capital wants predictability,” said Ken Wellar, a broker with Global Real Estate Advisors who specializes in multifamily sales. “They want to quantify where they feel the market is heading. When there’s uncertainty, that’s usually bad for the capital market side. Buyers are starting to feel more certain where the market is heading.”
The Drake, a 289-unit building at 1532 Spruce St., was sold to a partnership of out-of-town investors. The Lofts at 1835, a 191-unit tower across from the Comcast Technology Center, was sold to an entity affiliated with local developer GY Properties. The deals show prospective buyers are coming from both inside and outside the Philadelphia market.
Wellar and MPN Realty’s Nadia Bilynsky have experienced the shift in buyer sentiment firsthand. Wellar represented the sellers in the $5.7 million Fairmount portfolio trade and the $5.2 million sale of the 21-unit 1001 Pine St. Bilynsky represented the seller in the $5 million sale of 41 units across six buildings near Drexel University.
For much of the past two years, multifamily sales had stalled. Wellar noticed momentum building in the spring and summer. Now, the deals that percolated months ago are closing. Wellar said he’s involved with one or two large deals a week, a big uptick from a year ago.
Nearly 2,500 multifamily units in the Philadelphia region were sold in the second quarter, the most in a quarter since 2022, according to brokerage firm CBRE. In the 11 quarters since the start of 2023, only four totaled more than 1,000 units sold in the Philadelphia region.
CBRE predicts sale volume to continue increasing in 2026.
“Interest rates stabilizing has bridged a gap on a lot of deals that didn’t pencil [before] that now are finally penciling again,” Wellar said.
In October, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the second consecutive month. The two cuts, by 25 basis points each, dropped the federal funds rate to a range of 3.75% to 4%.
Real estate transactions often slow in presidential election years, industry insiders say, and last year was no different. The number of units sold in Greater Philadelphia in a quarter never surpassed 2,000 in 2024, per CBRE. The price per unit hovered below $200,000. This year, the price per unit jumped to around $275,000.
“After a certain point when people have been sitting on the sidelines, they’re eager to get back into it and do deals again,” Bilynsky said. “Buyers are sellers are more in a dealmaking mode now than they were a year ago.”

The apartment building at 723 N. 16th St. in the Fairmount neighborhood was sold as part of a portfolio.

‘Attitudes are just changing’

CBRE’s Spencer Yablon, who represented Brookfield Properties in the sale of 1835 Arch, described the capital market as having “cautious optimism.” When a glut of new apartments were delivered in recent years, developers waited to start new projects until occupancy rates climbed back. Yablon said the city is in the “seventh or eighth inning” of new supply being absorbed. Yablon predicts by Labor Day 2026, supply and demand will be balanced out in most parts of Philadelphia.

“Once you get into balance, you can start to see a little rent growth, high occupancy, not as many concessions,” Yablon said. Those characteristics are attractive to buyers. With another interest rate cut potentially coming soon, Bilynsky has observed a difference in buyers. The sellers she’s heard from who weren’t in a rush to sell are now reevaluating if now is the right time to unload properties.

“People’s attitudes are just changing,” Bilynsky said. “There’s been a shift where people are now out there doing deals. A year ago, they were sitting back and waiting to see what was going to happen.”

The neighborhoods in and around Center City have been the most active, Bilynsky said.

The Sterling, a 534-unit building at 1815 John F. Kennedy Blvd., was listed for sale in September and the 80-unit Rittenhouse Row at 1601 Sansom St. was listed in May. A recent Realtor.com report found that interest in Philadelphia-area apartments has come more from renters outside the region than in it, largely due to interest from New York transplants.

Following the election of Zohran Mamdani for mayor, Wellar said New York multifamily investors are also showing interest in Philadelphia. Mamdani has proposed to freeze rent for rent stabilized units, drawing opposition from apartment owners.

“We’re getting more and more calls from New York buyers,” Wellar said.

Call 215.413.4900