Min 1: Office Occupancy Gap Hit 800 Basis Points Between Grades Cushman & Wakefield Office Q3 2024 report confirmed office occupancy of Grade A assets in gateway markets ran nearly 800 basis points higher than overall office average. Prime office space representing about 8% of total sector maintained 15.5%
Min 1: Second Half Activity Doubled First Half Volume Commercial real estate investment activity began picking up in second half of 2024 according to CBRE analysis. After two years of frozen capital markets, debt and equity financing conditions improved as Federal Reserve initiated rate cuts totaling 75 basis points in
Min 1: Decade of Zero Construction Created Permanent Supply Constraint High costs in 2023 discouraged construction starts and ensured scarcity of new development deliveries in 2024 per CBRE analysis. Retail construction costs rose 6.5% in 2023 and increased further in 2024, albeit at slower rate. There has not been
Min 1: Build-to-Rent Development Became Primary Inventory Source Institutional investors focused on ground-up purpose-built development rather than acquisitions of existing properties, resulting in build-to-rent construction surge according to Arbor's Single-Family Rental Investment Trends analysis. Newly released U.S. Census Bureau data showed single-family rental development activity remained robust
Min 1: Atlanta Surpassed Northern Virginia For First Time in History Atlanta led all primary markets with 705.8 megawatts of net absorption in 2024, well above Northern Virginia's 451.7 megawatts per CBRE's year-end report. This marked first time any market surpassed Northern Virginia in
Min 1: Existing Home Sales Stay Frozen Below Five Million Fannie Mae forecast existing home sales at 4.25 million for 2025, up 4.8% from 2024's 4.06 million but still down 20.3% from 2019 levels. Increased inventory rose 19.1% year-over-year to 1.37 million
Min 1: Supply Peak Hits Now But Future Pipeline Evaporated Arbor reported 98.6 billion dollars in multifamily sales through the first nine months of 2024, up 6.6% from the prior year. The 12-month average cap rate held at 5.7%, below historical averages and nearly unchanged year-over-year. Investment
Min 1: Return-to-Office Mandates Reached Tipping Point Amazon announced its five-day in-office requirement in September 2024, catalyzing a corporate wave. NBCUniversal, Microsoft, and Starbucks followed with escalated requirements, some offering exit packages for noncompliant workers. The shift from voluntary returns to mandatory policies changes space demand fundamentally. Office visits reached
Min 1: Supply Peak Already Passed While Demand Accelerates Construction starts hit their eighth consecutive quarter of decline in Q4 2024 according to Newmark's industrial market report. Developer liquidity constraints from higher borrowing costs and reduced bank lending drove the pullback. Ares Management expects new deliveries to fall
Min 1: Albany and Rochester Lead National Value Gains Albany's aggregate home value rose 11.3% to cross $110.7 billion. Redfin confirmed the data showing Rochester climbed 11.2% to $124.3 billion. Newark added 11.1% to hit $410.8 billion while Buffalo gained 11% to
Min 1 Sellers outnumbered buyers by 36.8 percent in October according to Redfin, the largest gap in records dating back to 2013. That buyer-to-seller ratio marked the strongest buyer's market in housing in more than a decade. Yet cost remained the primary obstacle as 75 of top
Min 1 Homebuilder unsold completed inventory hit 16-year high according to ResiClub while builders aggressively offered incentives. Rate buydowns, closing cost credits, and smaller more affordable homes became standard. New home sales remained bright spot averaging 682,000 annualized pace in 2024 versus 595,000 between 2015 and 2019 according
Min 1 Nominal wage growth exceeded home price growth for first time since 2011 according to Fannie Mae economists. Home price appreciation projected at 3.6 percent in 2025 compared to 5.8 percent in 2024 while wage growth remained steady. That crossover created slow gradual affordability improvement nobody recognized
Min 1 Home prices fell in over half of US states in early 2025 particularly in Sun Belt according to mid-year housing analysis. Markets that heated most during pandemic saw steepest declines while Northeast and Midwest showed modest gains. Austin declined 13 percent from peak while Phoenix, Tampa, and Dallas
Min 1 Baby Boomers own 52 percent of nation's wealth including roughly $20 trillion in real estate assets according to Federal Reserve data. They hold 41 percent of all US property despite representing less than 20 percent of population. That concentrated ownership faces liquidation as Boomers age, downsize,
Min 1 Active listings in November jumped 12% higher than November 2023 and hit the highest level since 2020 according to Redfin. More than half of those homes sat on the market for at least 60 days without going under contract. That 55% share marked the highest November percentage since
Min 1 Renter households grew 2% in 2024 to a record 45.3 million while homeowner households increased only 0.6% to 86.3 million according to Redfin analysis of Census Bureau data. That three-to-one growth differential marked the second-fastest renter pace since 2021. Rental households accounted for 55% of
Min 1 Data center supply in primary markets increased 34% year-over-year to 6,922.6 megawatts according to CBRE, far surpassing the 26% increase in 2023. Primary markets had record 6,350 megawatts under construction at year-end 2024, more than double the 3,077.8 megawatts at year-end 2023. Overall
Min 1 The seller lock-in effect began easing in 2024 according to CoreLogic year-end report. Homeowners with ultra-low mortgage rates started listing properties driven by life events or need to tap accumulated equity. Active listings in November reached highest level since 2020 at 12% above November 2023 according to Redfin.
Min 1 Insurance premiums grew average 21% between May 2022 and May 2023 according to Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. Florida markets saw increases exceeding 200% in hurricane-exposed coastal zones. Property taxes rose simultaneously as municipalities reassessed values based on pandemic-era appreciation. That dual cost escalation transformed carrying costs
Min 1 The national housing market sits paralyzed while million-dollar properties moved at three times the velocity. National Association of Realtors tracked sales at $1 million or above surging 8.4% from a year ago in August, while overall home sales managed only 1.8% growth. Affluent buyers consumed inventory
Min 1 Office-to-residential conversions reached an inflection point nobody saw coming. Manhattan alone has 16,400 apartments in the conversion pipeline, nearly matching the borough's entire new construction pipeline of 17,600 units as of late 2024. The wave accelerated after New York enacted 467-m tax incentives in
Min 1 Institutional investors reversed course after a decade-long buying spree. The nation's largest landlords sold more single-family homes than they purchased for six consecutive quarters through Q3 2024. Invitation Homes, Progress Residential, American Homes 4 Rent, and FirstKey Homes all became net sellers. The shift happened quietly
Min 1 Build-to-rent vacancy rates fell in Q2 2024 for the first time in nearly three years. The inflection happened while skeptics warned about oversupply destroying returns. Total US build-to-rent inventory reached 350,000 units with another 45,000 on the way, yet demand absorbed completions faster than construction delivered