The NMHC (National Multifamily Housing Council) is a great resource to learn about apartment owners. You would need to own 21,190 units in the United States to make it into the NMHC top 50 owners list. Therefore according to the data available, the top 5 apartment owners in the United States possess a combined 406,002 units.
Here are the top 5 apartment owners in the United States:
MAA Apartment Owners:
Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) a publicly-traded real estate trust tops the list with a total of 100,031 units owned as of 2020. For instance, the units are located in 300 communities on 260,000 square feet of land. George E. Crates founded the company in 1977. In addition, it is the 7th largest apartment property manager in the United States. In 2019 the company’s Revenue was $1.641 B and Total Assets were $11.230 B.
Equity Residential Apartment Owners
As of January 2020, the company has a total of 80,624 units in a 309 property investment located in seven cities. Namely SoCal, San Francisco, Washington D.C, Denver, Seattle, Boston, and New York. Sam Zell, a real estate investor, formed the company in 1969. On the flip-side, at first, it was Equity Finance and Management Company. Equity Residential is also the 10th largest property manager in the US. In 2019, the company’s Revenue was $2.701 B and Total Assets stood at $21.172 B.
AvalonBay Communities, Inc.
The company is a publicly-traded real estate investment trust investing in apartments. Likewise, it stands as the third-largest homeowner in the United States with a total of 79,886 units as of 2020. The units are scattered in five cities. Such as the New England area, New York City Metropolitan Area, Washington City Metropolitan Area, and Seattle. In addition, they have a large presence in California. Furthermore, AvalonBay Communities, Inc. was born with the 1998 merger between Avalon properties and Bay Apartment Communities. Timothy J. Naughton became Chairman of the company in January of 2013. Finally, revenue and total assets stood at $2.324 billion and $19.121 billion respectively in 2019.
Starwood Capital Group
The Miami Beach, Florida-based investment firm owns a staggering 75,409 units in the United States. Therefore it is the 4th largest apartment owner in the United States. Sternlicht founded the company in 1991 at the age of 31. His goal was to buy buildings sold by Resolution Trust Corporation.
Morgan Properties Apartment Owners
The King of Prussia, a Pennsylvania-based firm, is the fifth largest apartment owner in the United States with a total of 70,052 units owned by them. For instance, most of the apartment units are scattered in about 20 states in the country. Above all, Morgan Properties prides itself as a turnaround specialist in the multifamily industry.