Brookfield Asset Management Inc. has acquired 19 apartment communities with 4,892 units located in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, for a total of $414 million from Babcock & Brown Residential.

“The acquisition of this attractive portfolio adds to Brookfield’s significant multi-family platform and positions us for continued growth in this property sector,” says David Arthur, managing partner at Brookfield Asset Management.

The portfolio is concentrated in the Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham sub-markets where strong economic and population growth is expected to yield superior occupancy rates and rental increases.

The average occupancy of the portfolio is 92 per cent. The portfolio is currently financed with individual non-recourse first mortgage loans, which have been assumed as part of the transaction.

Fairfield Residential, an affiliate of Brookfield, has an existing geographic footprint in these same markets and will manage the assets in the portfolio. Brookfield intends to invest an additional $30 million to maximize value in the portfolio by selectively upgrading and repositioning assets to increase rents and return on investment.

This transaction brings Brookfield’s growing multi-family portfolio to approximately 20,000 units throughout the U.S.

Brookfield is a global alternative asset manager with approximately $150 billion in assets. The company has over a 100-year history of owning and operating assets with a focus on property, renewable power, infrastructure and private equity.