Equity Residential Takes Chips Off the Table by Selling 23,000 Units of Their Perceived Risky Apartments Assets.

Sam Zell, President of one of the nation’s largest apartment investment groups announce the sale of 23,000 units in a $5.4 billion dollar deal. The sale represents 25% of Equity Residential’s multifamily portfolio.

This transaction is the largest deal by Sam Zell in 3 years. Back in 2012, Equity Residential teamed with AvalonBay Communities to purchase Archstone Apartments for $6.5 billion. However, this time around Zell said his focus for this transaction “is getting out of suburban markets and into downtown urban centers, where young people are moving and where it is more difficult to build”.

Zell is often credited with calling the peak of the market in 2007 when he unloaded $23 billion worth of real estate a few months before the crash.