North Vancouver-based Western Wealth Capital has added nearly 1,000 Houston-area residential units to its rapidly growing portfolio as the real estate investment firm continues its push toward the $2-billion mark in transactions.

The purchases, which closed on Sept. 27, include three multifamily residential communities comprising 940 units in the Houston area, a major target market for WWC in recent months. The acquisitions bring its portfolio in the area to 10 properties.

WWC has acquired about 2,750 multifamily rental units so far in 2019, bringing its current holdings to more than 12,000 units.

WWC has acquired a total of 68 multifamily properties in the U.S., with most of those purchases completed in the last three years as the firm has increased its activities and focused its energy on Sun Belt markets in Texas and Arizona.

WWC is already the second-largest multifamily owner-operator in Phoenix, both in number of buildings and in units.

Houston acquisitions value-add properties

All three of the most recent multifamily communities were built in 1983, with most apartment units still retaining their original interior features, WWC said.

This offers “substantial value-add opportunities such as interior upgrades and in-suite washer/dryer installations” the company said in its announcement. Also in line with its value-add strategy, WWC said rents in the buildings are well below those of similar units in the region.

WWC is attracted to Houston by its job and population growth, which it says are driving both vacancy rates and rental prices in an environment with a large inventory of undervalued and under-performing multifamily properties.

“Houston is a market that we have been monitoring for quite some time and we believe now is an excellent time to create value in this market,” said WWC CEO Janet LePage in the announcement.

With these acquisitions, WWC has completed more than $1.9 billion in real estate transactions.

It has acquired 68 multifamily rental buildings, representing a total purchase price value of $1.4 billion and more than 14,800 units.

Some have subsequently been improved and divested, resulting in what the company says has been an average annualized return of 30 per cent on these investments.

WWC’s 2019 acquisitions

The company’s current portfolio of assets under management, net of divestments, includes 46 multifamily unit rental buildings totaling more than 12,000 units.

So far in 2019, WWC has also acquired:

* two multifamily residential communities in Dallas and one in Houston in August, comprising 939 apartments;

* a Dallas community called The Brandt, a 504-unit rental property. WWC plans to spend about five years upgrading the 34 buildings on the site;

* the 183-unit Serafina at South Mountain in Phoenix, and the 198-unit Artisan Park in Glendale, Ariz.

The most recent acquisitions were brokered by David Wylie and Matt Saunders with Newmark Knight Frank, Jennifer Ray and Ryan Epstein with Berkadia, and Chris Curry, Todd Marix, Chris Young, and Joey Rippel with HFF, prior to being acquired by JLL.

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