Apartment Cap Rates Hit an 11-Year High as 2Q Deal Volume Steadies

U.S. apartment transactions steadied in 2nd quarter 2026 without much help from pricing, and the composition of what sold shifted more than the headline totals suggest.

• Volume held at $36.7 billion, within 1% of a year ago, but it took 7.4% fewer properties to get there.
• Cap rates widened to 5.79%, the highest quarterly average since 3rd quarter 2015.
• Mid-rise and high-rise product outsold garden communities for the first time in 25 years, taking 51.8% of dollar volume.
• That change in mix, rather than any broad move in pricing, is what lifted average price per unit to $206,982.

Fewer Deals, Bigger Checks

A total of 1,631 apartment properties changed hands for $36.7 billion in 2nd quarter 2026, according to transactional data from MSCI Real Capital Analytics. Getting there took 9.7% fewer units than a year ago, which pushed the average transaction to $22.5 million from $20.4 million in 1st quarter. Quarterly volume still runs about a third below the $54 billion average of the past five years.

Cap Rates Return to 2015 Levels

Cap rates averaged 5.79% in 2nd quarter, up from 5.71% in 1st quarter and 5.52% a year ago. The last time the quarterly average sat this high was in 3rd quarter 2015, and the spread against the 4.64% trough of 2nd quarter 2022 has now widened to 114 basis points. Apartments nonetheless keep clearing tighter than any other major property type, which is much of why capital keeps competing for them even after the repricing.

Mid-Rise and High-Rise Outsells Garden for the First Time in 25 Years

Mid-rise and high-rise properties accounted for 51.8% of apartment dollar volume in 2nd quarter, outselling garden product for the first time since MSCI began tracking the series in 2001. The previous high was a 49.7% reading in 1st quarter 2010. Mid- and high-rise volume jumped 39.1% from 1st quarter to $19 billion while per-unit pricing in that segment held at $288,335, within 0.2% of a year earlier. Because those assets trade at roughly 1.75 times the garden figure of $164,777, the heavier weighting is what lifted the blended average to $206,982 from $199,339.

Sales in the year-ending 2nd quarter 2026 totaled nearly $174 billion across 7,439 properties, with volume up 11.1% and properties up 11.2%. That is well ahead of the $121 billion trough of calendar 2023 and far short of the $359.6 billion peak of 2021.

Where the Capital Landed

California carried the deal count, with San Francisco recording the most individual sales at 111 properties and Los Angeles just behind at 102, though Los Angeles finished first on dollar volume at roughly $1.4 billion. Ranked by units, the map redraws around Dallas, Los Angeles and Chicago, since coastal trades run small and expensive while Sun Belt trades move more doors.

The Five Biggest Apartment Deals of 2Q 2026

The quarter’s five largest single-asset market-rate trades ran from $167 million to $240 million, with South Florida and the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC each accounting for two and Chicago the fifth. All five sat in major markets, a reversal from 1st quarter results, and every one came out of an institutional portfolio.

Uptown Boca Villas, Boca Raton, FL: $240 Million

The LDS Church paid $240 million in late April for the 456-unit community, roughly $526,300 per unit and the highest per-door figure among the quarter’s largest trades. Cortland had held it since August 2021, when it paid $230 million, making the exit a 4.3% gain over close to five years.

Shenandoah Crossing, Fairfax, VA: $216.3 Million

The DSF Group paid about $337,900 per unit in May for the 640-unit community, buying from Blackstone, which had taken the property on in June 2024 at an allocated $203.1 million. The 1985-vintage, 21-building asset has now traded twice inside of two years.

Harbour at New River, Fort Lauderdale, FL: $180 Million

The LeFrak Organization paid roughly $515,800 per unit in late April for the 36-story, 349-unit tower, which Related Companies and Rabina Properties completed in 2023 on a 1.4-acre site. At nearly 250 units per acre, it was comfortably the densest asset in the group.

The Pavilion, Chicago, IL: $167 Million

The Royal Imperial Group paid roughly $149,800 per unit in May for the 1,115-unit community, a 1972 vintage that was the cheapest per door in the top five and the largest single-asset trade in the country by unit count. Brookfield Asset Management sold, having paid an allocated $121.4 million in 2018.

Woodbridge Station, Woodbridge, VA: $166.8 Million

Prospect Ridge closed in late May at exactly $278,000 per unit, buying the 18-building, 44-acre community from Foulger Pratt. Built in 1991 and renovated in 2015, it was the second Northern Virginia asset in the top five, and the pair accounted for $383 million, more than any other metro.

What to Watch

Capital is available and sellers who need liquidity are finding buyers. The question for the back half of 2026 is whether the mid- and high-rise share holds, or whether garden product reclaims the majority it has held in every other quarter for 25 years.