Jon Gray, global head of real estate at Blackstone Group, said the private equity firm is "bullish" on rental housing in New York and Miami, two cities where high home prices make purchases more difficult, sending tenants to the landlord's apartments and houses.
Blackstone, the world's biggest alternative-asset manager, and partner Fairstead Capital recently acquired Manhattan apartment buildings with almost 1,000 units for $690 million. In the Miami area, Blackstone’s Invitation Homes unit owns single-family homes for rent.
"At the very high end in places like New York and Miami, I'd be a little more cautious" in the short term, Gray said Tuesday at the Bloomberg Markets Most Influential Summit 2015 in New York. "Long term, am I bullish on Miami and New York as residential places? I am."
Blackstone has built the largest real estate business in private equity, with $91.6 billion of property assets under management as of June 30. The New York-based firm gathered $15.8 billion for its latest real estate fund, and its seven previous global property funds have doubled their invested capital, with annualized returns of 18% after fees since 1994, according to the company's most recent earnings statement.
