Retailers vacated nearly 6 million more square feet than they occupied during the first three months of the year. That marked the weakest quarter for shopping-center leasing since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.
Brookfield Fund
Brookfield raised $5.9 billion for its new real-estate fund in the first quarter, signaling growing investor appetite for distressed commercial property. Brookfield is taking advantage of the sharp drop in property prices, buying foreclosed properties and relatively healthy ones where sellers want to cash out. The fund has invested about a quarter of its money, mostly in apartment buildings and warehouses, at prices well below replacement cost.
Coinbase Deribit
Coinbase Global has agreed to acquire Deribit, the world’s biggest trading platform for bitcoin and ether options, for roughly $2.9 billion.
Hiring Rate
The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) revealed the hiring rate ended March at 3.4%. When excluding the pandemic, the hiring rate is hovering near its lowest levels of the past decade.
DoorDash SevenRooms
DoorDash said it struck a $1.2 billion cash deal to buy closely held software concern SevenRooms, whose technology helps hotels and restaurants manage reservations.
Boston Vacancy
Boston’s office-vacancy rate has increased to a record 14.2% from 6.7% in 2019.
NYC Office
Office demand in New York is back at pre-pandemic levels, with 7.9 million square feet of office space in Manhattan leased in Q1.
Marriott citizenM
Marriott International has reached an agreement to acquire the select-service lifestyle brand citizenM for $355 million. The citizenM global portfolio currently consists of 36 open hotels comprising 8,544 rooms across more than 20 cities in the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific.
Short-Term Rentals
In 2024, bookings priced between $1,000 and $1,500 per night grew 15% from 2023, while rentals below $1,000 grew by 6%.
Homeowners Insurance
Homeowner insurance premiums increased about 33% on average from 2020 to 2023. The more likely a home is considered to have a higher disaster risk, the more those homeowners pay — about $500 more per year in 2023 than those who don't live in a place considered a high-risk disaster area.