Dive Brief:

• Greystar hit 726,826 apartments under management in 2022, as it added more than 25,000 units and marked 12 consecutive years as the No. 1 apartment operator in the country, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council’s Top 50 Managers list released Monday.
• Recently sold Lincoln Property Co. held onto the No. 2 spot. The Dallas-based firm added more than 3,000 units, putting it at 213,900 apartments under management.
• Houston-based Asset Living (202,748 units) leapfrogged Dallas-based Cushman & Wakefield (178,105 units) to claim the No. 3 spot after adding more than 40,000 apartments in 2022 — marking the largest increase in the industry. Folsom, California-based FPI Management, with 159,248 units, held onto the No. 5 spot.

Dive Insight:

Overall, the NMHC’s Top 50 managers operate less than 20% of apartment stock, according to the NMHC. Still, it's hard not to see consolidation among the largest apartment operators. Each company in the top 10 gained units last year. Only a handful of companies in the Top 50, primarily those owners that operated their own apartments, saw units under management decline last year.

As it becomes increasingly difficult for smaller property managers to gain the scale necessary in today’s high-tech environment, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see the big companies get even larger.

For example, Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based developer, builder and manager The Altman Cos. recently partnered with Atlanta-based third-party residential property management firm RAM Partners, which ranked No. 25 on the NMHC Top 50 with 62,716 units, to provide back-office management services.

“We’ve been very focused on providing our residents with what we call an exceptional living experience,” said Tim Peterson, chief investment officer for Altman. “It became harder and harder to have the infrastructure that we thought was necessary in the back office to provide that experience to our residents and also to our associates.”

Rounding out the top 50

Only one new company, Seattle-based Avenue5 Residential, joined the top 10 as it moved from No. 12 to No. 10 with 100,805 apartments. Memphis-based REIT MAA, with 99,676 apartments, slipped to No. 11. 

The rest of the top 10 included:

• Austin-based RPM Living, which had the second-largest increase in portfolio size, moved from No. 7 to No. 6 with 148,603 apartments. Last year, it had 112,872 units.
• Apartment Management Consultants switched places with RPM as it fell to No. 7 with 130,776 apartments. Overall, the Cottonwood Heights, Utah-based company gained more than 27,000 units.
• Des Moines, Iowa-based BH remained at No. 8 with 107,774 apartments, gaining more than 1,000 units.
• Boston-based WinnCompanies stayed at No. 9 with 105,673 apartments after picking up more than 2,500 units.

The 2023 Top 50 added four newcomers, including:

• No. 15 Atlanta-based Cortland rejoined the Top 50 at No. 15 with 83,654 units.
• No. 45 Boston-based Berkshire Residential Investments gained almost exactly 8,000 units to hit 37,036 apartments.
• No. 49 American Landmark, a major buyer of properties over the last couple of years, managed 34,128 units.
• No. 50 Charlotte-based RKW Residential continued to grow after it was acquired by Alfred in March 2022, sitting at 33,887. The company added more than 5,000 apartments in 2022.

Click here to sign up to receive multifamily and apartment news like this article in your inbox every weekday.