J.P. Morgan Real Estate Income Trust bought a Wilmington apartment community for a little over $32 million.

The REIT bought The Preserve at Pine Valley, a 219-unit, Class-B complex off South College Road, in a 90/10 joint venture partnership with Ginkgo Residential, a Charlotte-based owner and operator focused on workforce housing, according to a news release.

“The property is ideally positioned to benefit from Wilmington's robust economic and demographic growth, which, to date, has resulted in a 70% cumulative increase in population since 2000,” the J.P. Morgan REIT (JPMREIT) release stated. “The total purchase price was $32.1 million, exclusive of closing costs.”

The latest sale price represents a $7.65 million discount from what the property's previous owner, 80 Grant Street LLC, paid – $39.75 million – in 2022, according to property tax records. In 2019, Latitude Real Estate Investors of Beverly Hills, California, paid $18.425 million for The Preserve at Pine Valley, previously named Governour’s Square Apartments.

JPMREIT announced the Wilmington acquisition Wednesday, along with its purchase of a 133-unit multifamily property in the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta. Bass Lofts, a Class-A complex, was built in 1923 as a school, and JPMREIT paid $34.8 million for it, according to the release.

"These acquisitions underscore our confidence in the residential sector and our belief in the continued growth and resilience of the housing market," stated Chad Tredway, CEO and chairperson of JPMREIT, in the release.

Doug Schwartz, co-president of JPMREIT, stated in the release, "The Sunbelt region is experiencing declining supply amidst continued population and wage growth, making it a focal point for our investment strategy. At JPMREIT, we are committed to leveraging these trends by tactically investing in assets where we can create value and in locations where economic and population growth are creating opportunities."

According to the release, the Wilmington and Atlanta acquisitions mark JPMREIT's fifth and sixth investments in the residential sector, expanding its total portfolio to 12 investments.

“The 2021 pricing bubble motivated developers to introduce new supply, which softened rents despite growing wages and strong apartment absorption," the release stated. "Wilmington and Atlanta are examples of markets where new supply has peaked, and rents are now firming. These JPMREIT acquisitions will benefit from a recovery in rental rates across their submarkets.”