Bergen-Passaic/North Jersey Market Specialist Anticipates Flurry of Multi-Family Investment Activity before Year-End

October 30, 2018
Debbie Pomerantz, Senior Vice President

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Carin McDonald

973.513.9580
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Gebroe-Hammer Associates

2 West Northfield Road
Livingston, NJ 07039

Demand is Persistent for Class B & C Product

Bergen-Passaic/North Jersey Market Specialist Anticipates Flurry of Multi-Family Investment Activity before Year-End

Livingston, N.J., October 30, 2018 – At a time when multi-family rent gains continue their advance in North Jersey, investment demand is persistent in virtually every county metro-wide as year-end 2018 draws closer, according to Gebroe-Hammer Associates Senior Vice President Debbie Pomerantz. The North Jersey market specialist, whose submarket focus is Passaic County and Bergen County, has arranged sales involving over 400 units that sold for $53.1 million on behalf of clients spanning these two counties as well as Essex, Hudson and Middlesex counties during the past 10 months.

In Passaic and Bergen alone, Pomerantz has recorded a total of five transactions. The properties spanned the strong-hold municipalities of Fairview, Rochelle Park and Ridgefield Park in Bergen County and the City of Passaic in the county that bears the same name.

“Apartment buildings dominate the ‘genetic makeup’ of the overall housing stock in Bergen and Passaic counties, due in large part to the post-war middle-class housing boom that occurred on the edges of American cities,” said Pomerantz. “On average, apartment units account for 71% of the housing stock, with some municipalities like Passaic ringing in at a resounding 84%.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, for all rental housing median-gross-rent increases are up in Bergen County by 8.3% over the past four years while Passaic County has netted a 5.3% increase.

Among the North Jersey Metro counties realizing median rent growth of +10% is Essex County, where Pomerantz was involved in two transactions encompassing 217 units. She was part of the brokerage teams exclusively representing the seller of 25 Van Velsor Pl. and 103 Chancellor Ave., both in Newark, as well as the sale of 742 Park Ave., in East Orange. In each of the trades, Pomerantz procured the buyers and contributed toward establishing a new $257,692 per-unit-price benchmark for East Orange, at the time.

Rounding out Pomerantz’s recent transaction activity are two other sales. These were in Bayonne – 56 units along Kennedy Boulevard sold for $8.4 million – and on Perth Amboy’s New Brunswick Avenue, where 38 units sold for $5.625 million.

“There is a high velocity of deals in the pipeline that have come under contract in the past 60 days, so expect to see a flurry of closings within the next 60 as 2019 rapidly approaches,” added Pomerantz.

Since joining Gebroe-Hammer in 2011, Pomerantz has been instrumental in dramatically expanding Gebroe-Hammer’s presence within Passaic and Bergen Counties while representing client interests in the greater Northern New Jersey metro. Widely acknowledged for her consistent sales performance, she has risen through the firm ranks from area sales representative and assistant vice president, to being named vice president in 2014 and senior vice president in 2016. She was recently featured as an Executive Woman in Real Estate for her accomplishments and has been named among the sector’s Women of Influence.

Since 1975, Gebroe-Hammer’s brokerage activities have concentrated on all multi-family types including Class A, B and C high-rise and garden-apartment properties. The firm’s client base includes private family offices and owners, REITs, private equity funds and other institutional investors. While initially focusing on New Jersey, the firm has evolved during the past 43 years to also dominate the northeastern Pennsylvania and New York State submarkets as well as represent client interests nationally. In addition, Gebroe-Hammer markets mixed-use and free-standing office and retail properties. Widely recognized for its consistent sales performance, the firm is a 14-time CoStar Power Broker.