Today's Real Estate Pulse
Berkshire Hathaway to Acquire U.S. Homebuilder in $6.8B Deal
Berkshire Hathaway, now led by CEO Greg Abel, announced a $6.8 billion acquisition of a U.S. homebuilder, marking the conglomerate’s first major entry into residential construction. The purchase is intended to add stable, long‑term cash flow from the housing sector to Berkshire’s portfolio.
Also developing:
Mortgage Rates Near 6-Month High — but Here’s How Much Worse It Would Be without Freddie and Fannie’s Bond Buying
Mortgage rates have climbed to a six‑month high of 6.48% on Wednesday, up from the 5.9% low seen in January. The surge follows the Iran conflict that began in late February, reigniting market volatility. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae’s $200 billion mortgage‑bond purchase program has been a key backstop, preventing rates from rising even further. Analysts warn that without the GSE support, rates could have breached the 7% threshold, further straining affordability.
U.S. Housing Market Hits Record Buyer‑Friendly Gap with 630,000 More Sellers Than Buyers
Redfin reports 629,808 more sellers than buyers in February, the largest gap since 2013 and the strongest buyer’s market on record. The surplus is tempering home‑price gains even as mortgage rates hover above 6%.
Choctaw Nation Buys Former Big Lots Warehouse, Closing Off Oklahoma ICE Detention Site
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma announced the acquisition of a 1.24‑million‑square‑foot former Big Lots distribution center in Durant, a site previously eyed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for a detention facility. Analysts estimate the purchase removes the capacity for roughly...
Chick-Fil-A Deploys $50 Million to Build Lubbock Distribution Hub, Boosting West Texas Expansion
Chick-fil-A announced a $50 million investment in a new distribution and warehouse facility in Lubbock, Texas, slated to begin construction in May 2026. The hub will support the chain’s rapid restaurant rollout across West Texas, improve logistics efficiency, and create about...
GSA Sells Massive D.C. Office Building for $24M
The federal General Services Administration said today it had sold a 940,000-square-foot vacant office building in Washington, D.C. to a housing developer for $24 Million - WSJ
Iran Conflict May Drive Homebuilding Costs Higher
KB Home warns Iran conflict could push homebuilding costs higher if oil prices spiral out of control @kbhome CEO Robert McGibney: "a lot of the products that go into a home, there's petroleum that's involved in those products" ResiClub PRO report https://t.co/MiVXNJ3ybP
House Republicans Block Senate Tie‑up of Housing Bill and Community‑Bank Crypto Deregulation
House Republicans voted to reject a Senate amendment that would have linked a housing‑affordability bill to a package loosening crypto rules for community banks. The move leaves the housing measure and pending crypto‑related banking reforms on separate tracks, heightening uncertainty...
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Comprehensive Guide to Due-on-Sale Clauses: What They Are and Their Exceptions
A due‑on‑sale clause obligates borrowers to repay the entire mortgage balance if the property is sold or transferred, protecting lenders from interest‑rate risk. Most U.S. mortgages contain this provision, but notable exceptions exist for divorces, inheritances, and transfers to living...
Harbert Buys 535-Bed Liverpool PBSA Asset From Blacklight
Harbert European Real Estate (HERE) has purchased the 535‑bed Limelight student‑housing complex in Liverpool from Blacklight Capital Partners. The asset, spanning 162,554 sq ft, was previously marketed for over £61 million (approximately $78 million) but the final price remains undisclosed. Since opening in 2024,...
Mortgage Rates Surge, Home Purchase Applications Plummet 35%
There Goes the Spring Selling Season: Mortgage Rates Jump, Mortgage Applications to Purchase a Home Drop. Mortgage purchase applications are down by 35% from the same period in 2019 in a housing market that remains frozen https://t.co/sR0N0Jznl0 https://t.co/Hkfy4IziDs
Ambitious Firm Expands After Acquiring Long-Established Letting Agency
Orlando Reid has acquired the long‑established lettings agency Bergins in South Manchester, adding more than 250 properties to its portfolio. The Bergins team will stay on board to maintain continuity for landlords and tenants. This marks Orlando Reid’s first acquisition...
Lancashire Homeowner Risks Losing House After £180,000 Extension Dispute
Suzie Cavadino, a mother of four in Aughton, Lancashire, faces a demolition order for her £180,000 two‑storey extension, putting her family at risk of homelessness. The enforcement notice was upheld by the Planning Inspectorate and must be complied with by...
Ido Berniker: Inside the World of Luxury Real Estate Power Deals
Ido Berniker, founding member of Mercer Partners International, is a leading advisor to ultra‑high‑net‑worth investors in luxury real estate. He has brokered marquee deals at New York’s 220 Central Park West and London’s 1 Hyde Park, leveraging deep insight into global...
London Lettings Market Shows Early Signs of Spring Recovery
Foxtons reports that London’s lettings market is showing early signs of a spring‑time rebound after a winter lull. While renter registrations remain below last year’s levels, they have risen from winter lows and budgets are broadly unchanged, indicating stable affordability...
Thinktank Proposes New ‘Starter Deposit’ Scheme for First-Time Buyers
The Resolution Foundation’s new report proposes a government‑funded “Starter Deposit” equity loan that would provide up to $3,800 toward a five‑percent down payment for priority first‑time buyers. It identifies roughly one million low‑ and middle‑income households that struggle to meet...
Mortgage Stress to Hit New High in 2026
Roy Morgan’s February 2026 analysis shows that 30.3 % of Australian mortgage holders would be “at risk” of stress if the Reserve Bank of Australia raises the cash rate by another 25 basis points in May, pushing stress levels back to...
What Street Design Has to Do With the Housing Shortage
Street design, not just zoning, is a hidden driver of housing supply in North America. Standard engineering standards—especially 65‑foot-wide streets—consume large swaths of developable land, capping density at three to five homes per acre. A pilot project near Ottawa showed...
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Using Profit-Sharing Funds for a Home Down Payment: What to Know
Profit‑sharing plans let employers allocate a portion of profits to employee retirement accounts, with contributions capped at 25% of compensation or $69,000 for 2024. Withdrawals before age 59½ generally trigger a 10% early‑distribution penalty, and many plans impose vesting schedules...
Mortgage Loans From 2008 Are Back, and Collectors Want Double
Homeowners are being hit with surprise collection demands for pre‑2008 second mortgages, often called zombie mortgages, that were written off but never formally discharged. Debt buyers acquired these dormant liens for as little as four to seven cents on the...
Trident Provides Financing for Future Tesla Supercharger Site
Trident Capital Partners has extended a $3 million, 18‑month full‑recourse loan to finance a future Tesla Supercharger station in Los Angeles. The loan, structured at a 55 % loan‑to‑value ratio, enabled the acquisition and redevelopment of a 0.52‑acre site in Studio City...
Thor Equities Pays $56M for 1165 Broadway
Thor Equities has purchased the landmark 1165 Broadway in Manhattan’s NoMad district for $56 million. The five‑story, 58,000‑square‑foot property is fully occupied by tenants such as Primary Wave, Christian Louboutin, Aesop and Joe & the Juice. Thor’s COO Melissa Gliatta highlighted...
TailoredSpace Will Open 16th Coworking Location with Orange Facility
TailoredSpace announced the opening of its 16th coworking campus in Orange, California, occupying an 11,830‑square‑foot second‑floor space above a new Culinary Dropout restaurant. The location is situated in the historic Old Towne Orange district, marking the company’s first campus launch...
When Policy Meets Reality
The federal housing bill is currently stalled in the House, leaving a legislative void on nationwide affordability measures. Meanwhile, several states are grappling with the unintended cost pressures that mandatory affordable‑housing quotas impose on developers. A newly built duplex in...
Gordon Brothers to Market Historic Office Building in Cleveland for Sale
Commercial real estate firm Gordon Brothers has been retained to market the sale of Cleveland’s historic Huntington Building at 925 Euclid Avenue. The 21‑story, 1.5 million‑square‑foot office tower, originally the Union Trust Building, was constructed in the early 1920s and was once...
Florida Man Used ChatGPT to Sell His Home for $1.37m
Robert Levine, a Miami homeowner, sold his four‑bedroom house in just five days by relying entirely on ChatGPT for pricing, staging, marketing copy, and contract drafting. The AI‑driven strategy produced a sale price of $1.374 million (about $954,800 USD), roughly $150,000...
Kastle Deploys Aliro Mobile Credentials Across Apple, Google and Samsung Wallets
Security firm Kastle announced it has become the first company to deploy the Connectivity Standards Alliance’s Aliro 1.0 mobile credentials across Apple, Google and Samsung wallets, just weeks after the standard launched in February 2026. The solution consolidates separate access systems for...
Melius AI Leases 5K SF at 205 West 28th Street
Class A office building 28&7 at 205 West 28th Street in Manhattan’s Chelsea is now fully occupied after two leases totaling 6,636 square feet. Melius AI signed a 4,595‑sq‑ft lease for its AI training services on the sixth floor, while...
Landlords Seek Profit, Not Gouging: Real Estate Still Viable
Don’t get me wrong, real estate investing is still a great long-term play to build wealth. Not to mention all of the tax benefits. But most landlords are not gouging people. They’re just trying to cover the bills and turn...
Smaller BTR Homes Prioritize Affordability over Space
A fantastic BTR unit ... Notice how much smaller they are than typical Single Family Homes Broadly, people do not like to buy units that are this small (in the locations where BTR developments are located). When people buy houses, they...
Maverick Can Proceed with Gorham Building Foreclosure
A New York judge denied an injunction, allowing Maverick Real Estate Partners to resume foreclosure on the Gorham Building at 390 Fifth Avenue. The Schwalbe family, who owe a $41 million loan, claim Maverick demanded escalating fees—$400,000, then $750,000—beyond the original...
Ilan Bracha Scoops up Scribner Sidekick After Thor Flop
Ilan Bracha’s IB Global closed on the 15,000‑square‑foot Scribner sidekick at 3 East 48th Street for $9.5 million after the property fell into a lender‑driven foreclosure. The sale follows Thor Equities’ 2020 default on a $105 million CMBS loan that once financed...
Northwest Arkansas Commercial Real‑Estate Demand Holds Firm as New Space Hits Market
Skyline’s latest quarterly report says demand for commercial space in Northwest Arkansas remains strong even as more than a million square feet of new office, retail and warehouse space is slated to open. Leasing activity is outpacing supply, though exact...
Gladstone Institutes Leases Additional 105K SF In Mission Bay
Gladstone Institutes announced a lease for an additional 105,000 square feet of laboratory space at 1450 Owens Street in San Francisco’s Mission Bay. The new facility, slated to open in 2027, will accommodate roughly 300 scientists across 20 labs, freeing up...
Seriously Delinquent Loans Hit Highest Level Since 2022
The national mortgage delinquency rate ticked up to 3.72% in February, driven by a 3% rise in seriously delinquent loans—the highest level since June 2022. Pre‑payment speeds accelerated as rates fell, yet cure activity for loans 90 days or more...
Jack Doyle’s Pub Signs for Another 15 Years at MetLife’s 240 West 35th Street
Jack Doyle’s Pub & Restaurant has renewed its lease for another 15 years, securing its 6,295‑square‑foot ground‑floor and mezzanine space at 240 West 35th Street. The renewal, together with a 10‑year extension for Café Nuñez, lifts total occupied space at the address...
Senate's BTR Ban Overlooks 50k Units Annual Impact
On the Senate's build-to-rent ban, I see some argue "it's a small sector so it's not a big deal." As a % of market, it's small. But 50k units / year is material. And if you think all those units will...
Mortgage Rates Dip, Spread Widens to 214 Bps
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate today: 6.48% Same day last year: 6.80% -------------------- 10-year Treasury yield: 4.34% Spread today: 214 bps
Is the Real Estate Reset Stalled, or Just Slower? Insights From Carl Gomez, Chief Economist at Centurion Asset Management Inc.
In this 42‑minute episode, Chief Economist Carl Gomez explains that Canada’s commercial real‑estate market is undergoing a slow “Great Reset” driven by lingering uncertainty, high cap rates and the end of ultra‑low interest rates. While data shows the economy is...
Trump's Antitrust Moves Harm Real Estate Market
Corruption is costly - Trump's antitrust choices are reshaping real estate, in a bad way. https://t.co/GTF4dsuUBb
Iran Conflict Threatens U.S. Housing Recovery Beyond Rates
How the Iran war could crush the U.S. housing recovery, and it's not just about mortgage rates https://t.co/ecPYsnXmA5
Buy Now Or Forever Hold Your Lease
The author reflects on a sharp turn in the U.S. housing market, noting that after selling their longtime home at a profit two years ago, conditions have become far more challenging for sellers. New listings are drawing unusually high foot...
Titanic Heir’s Raritan Estate Hits $10M Listing
A stately estate near #NJ's #Raritan bayfront built by son of #Macys heirs Isidor+Ida Strauss, who died in the #Titanic disaster, lists for $10M. #HerbertNStrauss #Middletown #realestate #mortgage #JamesMcConnell https://t.co/rMnRQ7T2St via @WSJ
GSA Sells L'Enfant Plaza Office for $24M
L'Enfant housing. Sprawling #LEnfantPlaza office that 1x housed many agencies sold vacant for a mere $24M by #GSA to #multifamily developer. Gov out to shed props in move to make itself lighter. #realestate #CRE #DC #Dalian #Trump #LibertyLoan https://t.co/vWQVaN6nxX via...
Ontario, Federal Governments Eliminate HST on New Homes for One Year
Ontario and the federal government will suspend the 13% HST on qualifying new homes for one year starting April 1, 2026. The cut applies fully to homes priced at or below $1 M CAD (about $0.75 M USD) and tapers to a $24 k rebate...
Supply and Distress Drive Home Price Cycles
Supply and distress supply are the big keys; we have 84 years of data on this and many economic cycles with nominal national home prices data. https://t.co/7ojUXodFpL
‘Too Much Space,’ Says State Farm CEO on Shuttering Corporate HQ
State Farm will relocate 13,000 Bloomington employees to its Corporate South campus by the end of 2027, citing that its current headquarters occupies roughly twice the space needed. The move is part of a broader effort to trim excess real‑estate...
Outpatient Demand Soars, New Space Scarce and Pre‑leased
Houston is expecting a 16% jump in outpatient patient visits by 2029. New MOB construction under way? Less than 1% of existing supply. What little is being built is already spoken for: roughly 80% of that space is preleased before...
Even U.S. Spy Offices Are Getting Lounges and Upgrades
The 2025 update to Intelligence Community Directive 705 tightens shielding against electronic surveillance, forcing many existing secure workspaces to undergo costly renovations. To comply, designers are relocating bathrooms, kitchens and plumbing outside the innermost secure zones, creating a new peripheral...
Plano Mall Redevelopment To Move Forward With Or Without Dallas Stars
The Shops at Willow Bend in Plano will be demolished and redeveloped within the next year, regardless of whether the Dallas Stars secure a new arena on the site. Owners Cawley Partners and Waterfall Asset Management plan a mixed‑use project...
Wealthy Sydney Suburbs to Be Charged for Street Parking Under Council Plan
Waverley Council in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs is set to overhaul its residential parking system, limiting households to two permits and introducing fees of roughly $66‑$99 USD for the first permit and $198‑$264 USD for a second. The draft strategy...