Today's Real Estate Investing Pulse
Housing Prices Slip 2.4% as Buyers Return, Pending Sales Rise 4.3%
Median list prices dropped 2.4% year‑over‑year to $429,500, the steepest decline since 2017. Pending sales climbed 4.3% YoY, extending a six‑month growth streak. New listings rose sharply in the Northeast (+8.6%) and Midwest (+4.7%) while remaining flat in the South.
Also developing:
Investors Exploit Landlord Exodus at Auction
Investors are increasingly buying tenanted rental homes at auction as the Renters’ Rights Act reshapes the market. Auction House reported a 70% year‑on‑year jump in such sales in April, with 46 properties sold versus 27 a year earlier. Sellers—often part‑time or retiring landlords—are accepting 30%‑40% discounts for a quick exit. Larger landlords, typically managing 10‑15 units, are seizing the opportunity to expand portfolios at reduced prices.
Why Generational Wealth Transfer Is Creating New Housing Market Risks
A projected $124 trillion generational wealth transfer will push inherited homes into a larger share of U.S. residential transactions over the next two decades. More than 42% of homeowners over 50 lack wills or trusts, leading to title ambiguities that can...
Rents Are Down in Austin. So Why Are Evictions Still Climbing?
Austin’s median rent dropped 4% to $1,296, driven by a building boom and regulatory reforms that added new units, especially in older apartment complexes. Despite lower rents, the city recorded a 30% surge in eviction filings last year—the largest increase...
Wealthy Families Pick up Hong Kong Luxury Homes as Secondary Market Recovers
Hong Kong’s secondary luxury housing market is rebounding as affluent families return, drawn by modest price gains and easing borrowing costs. The Nameson family acquired two adjacent units in Tai Po’s Mayfair By The Sea I for HKD 60 million (≈US$7.7 million), while a...
U.S. Q1 Commercial & Multifamily Loans Jump 52% YoY, UK CRE Lending Hits Decade‑High
U.S. commercial and multifamily mortgage originations surged 52% year‑over‑year in Q1 2026, driven by health‑care, retail and hotel loans, while the United Kingdom recorded a decade‑high £52.7bn ($66bn) of new CRE financing in 2025. The twin spikes highlight a shift...
Self‑Storage Bubble Bursts; We're Buying Aggressively
The self storage bubble is finally popping and we are going to try to buy as much storage as we can over the next 3-5 years.
Principal Eyes $3 Billion for Two Data Center Funds on AI Boom
Principal Financial Group is launching two private real‑estate equity funds to capture the surge in data‑center construction driven by artificial‑intelligence workloads. The U.S.‑focused fund targets roughly $2 billion, while a Europe‑focused counterpart aims for about $1 billion. Both vehicles seek an 18‑20%...
S3 Capital Closes $1.3 B Multifamily Lending Fund, Boosts Rental Housing Capital
S3 Capital announced the hard‑cap close of its S3 LB RE Credit Fund III at $1.3 billion, giving the lender $850 million in discretionary commitments and $465 million in co‑investments. The fund is designed to originate roughly $4.3 billion of first‑lien construction loans for...
Even if You’re Not Cash-Rich, Your Home Equity Could Help Your Kid Buy a House
Parents are increasingly turning to home‑equity products to help their children afford a first home, with 74% of parents saying they plan or are already budgeting for such assistance. The main tools are home‑equity loans, HELOCs, and cash‑out refinances, each...
ECI Group and ApexOne Launch $500 Million Multifamily Fund Targeting Sunbelt and Midwest
ECI Group and ApexOne Investment Partners announced a joint venture to raise a $500 million multifamily fund, co‑investing over $100 million and securing up to $350 million from Neuberger Berman’s Almanac Realty Investors. The fund will focus on existing Sunbelt, Midwest and Mountain...
Avison Young Joins Dealpath Connect, Boosting $27B Institutional Deal Flow
Dealpath announced that Avison Young has joined Dealpath Connect, the industry’s largest private exchange for institutional real‑estate listings. The partnership adds Avison Young’s investment‑sales and debt listings to a platform that has already injected $27 billion of deals into buy‑side pipelines,...
Strawberry Fields Reit Inc (STRW) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Strawberry Fields REIT (STRW) closed 41 properties worth $145 million in Q1, delivering a 7.5% initial cash yield and extending the weighted average lease term to 19 years. Occupancy climbed to 98.6% and new leases were signed at rents roughly 10%...
Rents Fall Again as Rental Market Slowdown Gathers Pace
Average rents across England slipped 0.6% in April, marking the first decline after several years of rapid growth. The average void period lengthened to 24 days, with Yorkshire and the Humber experiencing the longest gaps at 29 days. London continued...
House Price Trends Underline More Subdued Market Conditions
Scotland’s average house price rose 1.9% over the past year to £186,684 (≈ $239k), up £3,532 (≈ $4,500) from March 2025. By contrast, England and Wales saw a 0.6% decline, with prices falling £1,742 (≈ $2,200). Regional data show Inverclyde posting the biggest gain—£11,422...
Residential Construction Starts Fall Sharply
Residential construction activity in the UK continued its slide in the three months to April 2026, with overall project starts down 8% and a 33% year‑on‑year decline. Private housing was hit hardest, falling 39% versus the same period in 2025 and...
Rental Supply Squeeze Hits Four-Year High
The UK’s Renters' Rights Act, effective May 1, is prompting landlords to sell or reclaim properties ahead of tighter rent‑increase and possession rules, tightening rental supply to a four‑year high. Prime outer London rents jumped 3% year‑on‑year—the strongest rise since June 2024—while...
Why Australian Housing Supply Won’t Recover
The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council (NHSAC) released its 2026 State of the Housing System report, dramatically raising its outlook for new dwellings. The council now projects annual residential construction to reach 219,000 units by the 2029‑30 financial year,...
LTC Properties’ Malin Cites ‘Attractive’ Pricing for Nursing Home Assets Amid Limited Sector Headwinds
LTC Properties said it will sell skilled‑nursing facilities only opportunistically, using proceeds to fund higher‑growth senior‑housing‑operating‑portfolio (SHOP) assets. The REIT highlighted an EBITDAR coverage ratio approaching two‑times, underscoring the strength of its remaining SNF holdings. About $265 million from recent SNF...
California People and Company News, Week of May 8, 2026
Alexandria Real Estate Equities’ founder Joel S. Marcus was honored with the Richard J. Bolte Sr. Award, highlighting leadership in chemical and molecular life sciences. RSG 3‑D announced a two‑person advisory board featuring veteran real‑estate executive Ken Hubbard and climate‑resilience entrepreneur...
Newmark Represents Anheuser-Busch in $360M Sale of Former Newark Complex
Newmark Group acted as exclusive advisor to Anheuser‑Busch in the $360 million sale of its former Newark, New Jersey, brewery complex to Goodman Group. The 86‑acre site includes more than 1.7 million square feet of existing structures, making it one of the largest...
Ken Shinoda on Housing, CRE and the Case for Carry | Bloomberg TV
Ken Shinoda, DoubleLine’s structured‑products manager, told Bloomberg TV that the 30‑year fixed mortgage rate’s rise to 6.4% has created a compelling credit backdrop for agency mortgage‑backed securities. After a long period of underperformance versus corporates, agency MBS are rebounding and offer...
Pretium Secures $3 Billion in Residential Credit for Homebuilders and Multifamily Developers
Pretium announced it has committed $3 billion in residential credit, including $2.2 billion in loans, to medium‑size homebuilders and multifamily developers. The funding backs the construction of more than 13,000 housing units and reflects the firm’s push to fill a widening U.S....
KBRA's April CMCM Trend Watch Shows Private‑Label CMBS Issuance Rebound to $42B YTD
Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) released its April 2026 CMBS Trend Watch, noting a rebound in private‑label CMBS issuance with 17 deals closed in April and year‑to‑date issuance climbing to $42 billion. The report also flags a 57.7% YoY jump in...
Walker & Dunlop Investment Partners Outlines 2026 CRE Risks
Walker & Dunlop Investment Partners warned that the 2019‑2022 multifamily boom has turned into a credit‑risk nightmare as higher rates, rising cap rates and weaker rent growth erode values. The panel highlighted a surge in distressed construction loans, driving demand...
Mortgage Rate Rally Falters Amid Rising Yields, Weak Jobs Outlook
Is this week's mortgage rate rally already running out of steam? Bond yields are back up, oil prices are back up, mortgage rates no longer falling... And we have another jobs report tomorrow with a very low bar to clear, just 55k...
Marcus & Millichap Sells Minnesota Apartments in 1031 Exchange
Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale of Falcon View Apartments, a 36‑unit multifamily asset in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, for $5.09 million through a 1031 exchange. The property sits on 1.56 acres adjacent to the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul campus and features renovated...
Soloviev To Pocket $526M In 9 W. 57th St. Refi
Stefan Soloviev has secured a $1.8 billion CMBS refinancing for the iconic 9 W. 57th St. tower, returning roughly $526 million in cash to the Soloviev Group. The five‑year loan replaces a $1.2 billion mortgage, adds $74 million for closing costs and landlord obligations, and carries a...
Josh Zegen, Adi Chugh Talk Private Credit and Writing Big Checks
Josh Zegen, co‑founder of Madison Realty Capital, reflects on two decades of building the private‑credit real‑estate market, while newcomer Adi Chugh’s TYKO Capital has already financed marquee deals—a $565 million Miami office loan and a $1 billion Manhattan tower. Speaking at The...
Spain’s MERLIN Sees Compelling Growth Prospects in Europe’s Data Center Sector
MERLIN Properties, Spain’s leading REIT, has shifted from post‑crisis opportunistic acquisitions to a growth strategy focused on digital infrastructure, especially data centers. Data centers currently generate about 10% of revenue but are projected to account for roughly 65% within five...
Income, Repriced: Where Advisors Are Looking Now
Institutional investors are increasingly allocating capital to private real‑estate assets as a source of income tied to tangible constraints, notably Canada’s chronic housing shortage. Pier 4, a Canadian multifamily trust, is positioning itself to capture rental demand in secondary markets where...
Private Residential Construction Spending Increases in March
Private residential construction spending rose 1.7% in March 2026, ending two consecutive months of decline and putting the year‑over‑year figure 3.6% higher. Gains were broad‑based, with single‑family construction up 2.7% month‑over‑month, multifamily edging up 0.3%, and home‑improvement spending increasing 0.9%....
New York's Budget Deal Introduces New Second-Home Tax Targeting Luxury Market
New York State’s $268 billion budget deal adds a pied‑à‑terre surcharge aimed at multimillion‑dollar second homes in the five boroughs. The surcharge is expected to generate roughly $500 million each year to help close the city’s $5.4 billion budget gap. Specific income thresholds...
MBA Mortgage Purchase Application Down -3.7% As Mortgage Rates Rise
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Mortgage Purchase Index slipped 3.7% last week after a 1.2% gain the week before, signaling a quick reversal in mortgage‑originator sentiment. The decline coincided with the 30‑year Treasury‑linked mortgage rate climbing to 6.45%, the highest...
Manhattan Office Leasing Hits 3.6 Million SF in April, Outpacing Decade‑Long Average
Manhattan office leasing jumped to 3.61 M SF in April, well above the 10‑year average, signaling renewed premium‑space demand. The surge comes as the wider U.S. office market wrestles with elevated vacancy, a collapsing development pipeline and mixed jobs data.
Iran War Sends Residential Investor Sentiment to Three-Year Low, Index Falls to 87
The RCN Capital/CJ Patrick Investor Sentiment Index slid 14 points to 87 in Q1 2026, its lowest reading in three years. The drop reflects the impact of the Iran war, rising mortgage rates and sluggish home sales, leaving investors more...
The American Dream Is Moving to the Midwest—Michigan and Wisconsin Beat the Coasts for the Hottest Housing Markets, Redfin Finds
Redfin’s 2026 analysis shows six of the ten hottest U.S. neighborhoods are in the Midwest, highlighting a shift toward more affordable markets. Median home prices in places like Lincoln Park, Michigan ($158,000) are less than half the national median of over...
Can You Make Money From ‘Flipping’ Houses? Hotspots and Alternatives
House‑flipping activity in the UK has slumped by half over the past decade, dropping from 21,520 flips in 2016 to just 10,570 in 2025. Gross profits have been squeezed by the 3‑5% second‑home stamp‑duty surcharge, falling from about $46,300 in...
Home Types Diverge: Prices May Stall, Not Rise
When Will House Prices Finally Turnaround? When Do Home Prices Stop Falling? Two Ideas: 1) Different TYPES Of Homes may have very different futures 2) Prices can stop falling & not immediately start to go up And most of the Real Estate Industry...
New Home Sales Rise In March Despite Rising Mortgage Rates
U.S. new single‑family home sales rose by about 47,000 units in March 2026, marking the first notable uptick since the pandemic slump. Mortgage rates edged higher, hovering near 6.8%, yet the market absorbed the cost increase. At the same time,...
Azora’s MilePro Sells Madrid and Barcelona Logistics Assets for €43m
Azora’s MilePro subsidiary has completed the sale of two logistics properties located in Madrid and Barcelona for €43 million (approximately $47 million). The transaction underscores the robust appetite among institutional investors for high‑quality, prime‑location logistics assets in Spain’s major metros. The deal...
Term Sheet: Bayes Highlights Debt Fund Gains, Standard Chartered Backs London Student Housing, Ares Posts Strong Q1 Fundraising Figures
A new report from Bayes Business School spotlights a surge in UK debt‑fund origination, underscoring heightened lender activity. Standard Chartered has committed financing to Dominus and Cheyne’s London student‑housing development, reflecting growing institutional support for the sector. Ares Management disclosed...
Mizuho’s Vikram Malhotra Sees Logistics Real Estate in Early Stages of New Upcycle
Vikram Malhotra, managing director of real estate equities at Mizuho, says the industrial and logistics REIT sector is in the early stages of a new upcycle. Large warehouses over 500,000 square feet are thriving as retailers like Walmart and Amazon...
Real Estate Private Equity Generates Perpetual Income Streams
Why Real Estate Private Equity is the Perfect Perpetual Income Machine You want to be in a business where the sale you made 5 years ago still pays you today. Real estate private equity is the perfect example of this Here’s how...
Santa Barbara's Proposed Fee Spike Threatens Rental Development
The Santa Barbara Planning Commission proposed doubling "affordable housing" fee on new production, such that it would cost $159,968 in fees to build a single median-sized rental unit. This is the housing policy equivalent of applying leeches to a sick...
Multifamily Developer Confidence Holds Steady in First Quarter
The National Association of Home Builders’ Multifamily Market Survey shows developer confidence held steady in Q1 2026, with the Multifamily Production Index (MPI) unchanged at 44 year‑over‑year. Meanwhile, the Multifamily Occupancy Index (MOI) slipped to 69, a 13‑point decline. Growth...
IBP Earnings Reveal Weak April for Homebuilders, Census Data Distrusted
Commentary on Installed Building Products earnings call right now confirms pretty weak April for production homebuilders. $IBP Also interesting hearing C-suite repeatedly say - “we don’t put much trust in recent Census housing starts data.”
NAR's Gen‑Z Homebuying Data Unreliable: 3.5% Snail‑mail Response
Please don't listen to NAR about Gen-Z homebuying trends. They get their data from a snail mail survey with a 3.5% response rate.
March 2026 New Home Sales
The March 2026 new‑home sales report shows the post‑COVID sales surge has evaporated as higher mortgage rates curbed demand, leaving builders with a backlog of units under construction. Completed new‑home inventory peaked earlier this year and is now on a...
OLOS Impact Deploys AI‑Powered Model to Speed Affordable Housing in LA
OLOS Impact has launched an AI‑driven multifamily development platform in Los Angeles, promising to cut feasibility studies from months to days. The firm pairs the technology with a partnership model that leverages underused church land, aiming to deliver "attainable" housing...
Rays' "Fully Taxable" Stadium Pays Its Own Bonds
Rays execs calling their mixed-use stadium district "fully taxable," it appears, is misdirection: They'll be paying some property taxes, but they'll be paying them to themselves, to pay off bonds for their own stadium. https://t.co/P8XqUu0ad1