Kennedy Wilson has agreed to acquire Toll Brothers’ Apartment Living platform in a $347 million deal that brings more than $5 billion of assets under management to the Beverly Hills, California-based investment firm.
The acquisition includes stakes in 18 apartment and student housing properties valued at $2.2 billion and management of another 20 properties totaling $3 billion. Kennedy Wilson will also take control of 29 development sites worth a potential $3.6 billion.
The deal is expected to close in October and gives Kennedy Wilson immediate scale in rental housing at a time when new development starts are slowing amid high borrowing costs and tariffs. Toll Brothers will exit multifamily development to focus on its core homebuilding business.
“This purchase helps create an unparalleled national platform within the rental housing space that totals over 80,000 units we own, finance or manage,” said a statement from William McMorrow, chairman and CEO of Kennedy Wilson.
The acquisition positions Kennedy Wilson to expand its multifamily portfolio as the U.S. faces a shortage of more than 3.7 million units, according to data from Freddie Mac. Tight supply, affordability constraints and demographic shifts continue to drive demand for multifamily housing, according to CoStar research.
The agreement establishes a long-term relationship between the companies in which Kennedy Wilson will refer for-sale housing opportunities to Toll Brothers and Toll Brothers will share multifamily leads.
Multifamily pivot
Toll Brothers was among several of the nation's biggest single-family homebuilders to operate multifamily divisions that have been lucrative operations during prior apartment building boom periods.
For instance, Lennar Multifamily, rebranded by its parent Lennar Corp. to Quarterra in 2022, has 12,600 apartments under development with a total investment value of $4.7 billion, according to its website.
DHI Communities, an affiliate of D.R. Horton, has developed 14,000 units nationally, according to the Fort Worth, Texas-based company's website.
Kennedy Wilson plans to acquire Toll Brothers’ interests in completed and under-construction multifamily and student housing assets, including 18 stabilized properties and a pipeline of 29 development sites.
The firm will also assume construction management responsibilities for ongoing projects.
As part of the deal, Kennedy Wilson will make an initial $90 million investment in the acquired interests, with the remainder funded by its existing investment partners. The company also gains an in-house development team from Toll Brothers Apartment Living.
In addition to acquiring properties, Kennedy Wilson will manage 20 assets that Toll Brothers intends to sell over time. These properties represent $3 billion in assets under management and mark Toll’s exit from the multifamily space.
Forecasted growth
Kennedy Wilson has been on an apartment-buying spree in such cities as Seattle. The firm was the buyer in Seattle's highest-priced apartment deal of 2025 in June, purchasing The Danforth in First Hill, a 265-unit tower, with two Japanese investment partners for $173 million.
More recently, Kennedy Wilson paid $80.5 million to buy the 248-unit Pratt Park apartments in Seattle’s Central District for $80.5 million.
The acquisition adds properties in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington, D.C., to Kennedy Wilson's portfolio.
Multifamily construction is slowing across the nation after record completions in 2024. Tariffs, interest rates and rising costs have contributed to a 36% year-over-year decline in project starts in 2025, according to CoStar data.
Despite the slowdown, demand for apartments remains strong, with U.S. rents up 1% in the past year as climbing home prices and delayed household formation keep more renters in the market, according to CoStar data.
The acquisition reflects Kennedy Wilson’s bet that limited new construction will support rent growth and occupancy stability in the years ahead, McMorrow said.
Toll Brothers had built its Apartment Living division into one of the nation’s top multifamily developers, completing more than 10,000 units and with 18,000 in production as of last year.
For the record
J.P. Morgan Securities advised Kennedy Wilson on the transaction, with Latham & Watkins serving as legal counsel. Goldman Sachs and Vestra Advisors advised Toll Brothers, with legal support from Fried Frank.