BERKELEY — The Dwight apartment complex in downtown Berkeley was bought by an East Bay real estate investment firm that seeks to create affordable housing for the region’s workforce.
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An affiliate of Riaz Capital paid $37.8 million for the seven-story building at 2121 Dwight Way, according to documents filed on Sept. 5 with the Alameda County Recorder’s Office.
The purchase price was about 20% below the property’s value in January, as calculated by the Alameda County Assessor’s Office.
The deal fits a pattern of weakening real estate values for East Bay apartments, including Oakland and Berkeley multifamily housing properties. The price paid per unit is in line with other recent purchases. The Dwight, which has 99-units, was bought for $381,600 a unit.
The East Bay apartment market is experiencing a bout of weakness in part because job growth is tepid at a time when apartment development has outpaced demand, according to a report produced by commercial real estate firm Marcus & Millichap regarding the April-through-June second quarter of 2025.
“In recent years, apartment development has been concentrated in the Oakland-Berkeley area,” Marcus & Millichap stated in its report.
The brisk pace of production of new apartment units has triggered higher vacancies, according to the report.
“An average of 2,100 annual deliveries over the past five years has led to an elevated vacancy rate of 7.1% as of March 2025, well above the 4.1% average from 2010 to 2019” in the Oakland and Berkeley area, Marcus & Millichap reported.
The higher vacancy rates have weakened rental levels, which in turn has posed financial challenges for apartment owners that are attempting to repay mortgages.
As a result, some apartments are being sold at prices well below their assessed values. Other properties have endured loan delinquencies or even foreclosures.
