Investment firm buys two Myrtle Beach-area apartment complexes in nearly $28 million deal

A New York real estate investment firm has acquired two Myrtle Beach-area apartment complexes in nearly a $30 million deal.

Aulder Capital bought the 72-unit Aviary Village in Conway and the downtown Myrtle Beach Cloisters, with 88 units, last month through Charleston-based mortgage broker Berkadia for $27.6 million.

“The record migration and rent growth provides an excellent opportunity for the buyer,” Berkadia Charleston director Blake Coffey said in a statement announcing the acquisition.

Home and rental prices inside America’s fast growing metropolitan area continue to outpace national averages.

Apartment hunting site Zumper puts the median cost of monthly rent on a one-bedroom unit in Myrtle Beach at $1,460 - about 10 percent higher than 2021 rates. By comparison, that same sized apartment would have been $755 a month in November 2014.

The Cloisters, located at 902 67th Ave N. in Myrtle Beach, offers a 750-square-foot apartment with one bedroom and one bathroom for between $1,450 and $1,550 a month, according to its website.

Aviary Village has leases between $1,450 and $1,750 for one and two-bedroom units.

Workers in South Carolina have to earn $20 an hour or put in 106 hours a week at minimum wage to afford the cost of a two-bedroom rental, according to a recent National Low Income Housing Coalition report.

Myrtle Beach officials say creating a bigger stock of affordable housing is among the city’s top priorities as it looks to its economic future.

A February Habitat for Humanity of Horry County unveiled findings of a housing affordability study, concluding Myrtle Beach should support construction of at least 567 new housing units a year — 250 rental properties and 317 homes at various price points.