Blackstone Group goes on real estate purchasing spree

Giant real estate investment company Blackstone Group has set out on an ambitious campaign to purchase distressed properties located in Florida, up to now doing so entirely in cash.

The company, which is based in New York, last month paid a total of $4.4 million for 37 properties situated in Manatee and Sarasota counties, according to property records, which is just part of an epic $80 million purchasing spree across 11 counties in Florida.

Blackstone says that it is hoping to purchase “a couple [of] hundred” properties located in the Sarasota-Bradenton area, says Scott Corbridge from Sarasota Management & Leasing, who several months ago met with executives from Blackstone. “If it fits their model, they are not afraid to pay more than the asking price to get it,” he notes.

Blackstone is the biggest real estate private equity firm in the world, managing $54 million, but has made no comments on the revelations. The sudden presence of the firm in Southwest Florida is just the latest example of the bullish push into real estate of all sorts that it has been making all over the country of late.  For many years market observers have been wondering whether the apparent ‘smart money’ would shift into an area which was battered during the Great Recession, with the downturn having pushed almost every variety of property down in value by as much as 50%.

In the three-year period since 2009, Blackstone’s real estate fund has committed or invested $17.6 billion in the purchase of properties, according to the company.  In addition to its purchasing power and size, Blackstone’s regional significance lies in its ability to have an effect on competing investors and even raise house prices almost single-handedly.