Nontraded REITs raised $9.8 billion last year, compared with $33.2 billion during all of 2022. Meanwhile, investors redeemed about $17.4 billion, far surpassing the $12 billion redeemed in all of 2022.
Pricey Retail
Rents averaged $2,000 a square foot on upper Fifth Avenue over the past year. That was about 13% higher than the world’s next-most-expensive shopping destination, Via Montenapoleone in Milan. New York City displaced Hong Kong last year to top the chart for the first time since 2017.
ERC
The employee retention tax credit (ERC), projected to cost the government $55 billion, is a Covid giveaway that keeps on giving. The government has paid $230 billion in claims, including about $120 billion this year.
Consumer Sentiment
The December index of consumer sentiment jumped to 69.7 from November’s 61.3. This was still below its April 2020 level of 71.8. In February 2020, it was at 101.
Four Seasons Telluride
$1 billion Four Seasons Telluride resort is being planned by Fort Partners and Merrimac Ventures. The project will feature 52 guest rooms, where the owners expect to charge an average rate of more than $1,000 a night. Prices are still being worked out for the 68 residences, but the plan is to list one-bedrooms starting at more than $2 million. They expect to break ground late next year.
PE Lending
Warburg Pincus turned to investment giant Apollo Global Management Inc. for a $1 billion loan to pay down bank facilities involving an older fund.
CHH Update
Choice Hotels International’s hostile buyout offer of rival Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has entered a new phase: recriminations. Choice Hotels said on Wednesday that institutional shareholders representing 40% of Wyndham’s total outstanding shares have talked with Choice about its recent offer to exchange their shares for Choice shares or cash.
X Sale
U.S. Steel, the Pittsburgh steel producer that played a key role in the nation’s industrialization, is being acquired by Nippon Steel in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $14.1 billion. The transaction is worth about $14.9 billion when including the assumption of debt. The price tag for U.S. Steel is nearly double what was offered just four months ago by rival Cleveland Cliffs.
Return to Office
Return-to-office rates have stalled for most of 2023. The average office attendance is about half of its prepandemic level in the 60% to 65% range, but the return rate has seemed to have topped out.
Tax Receipts
In the U.S., tax receipts at all levels of government climbed to nearly 28% of GDP last year, up from 25% in 2019 and the highest level since at least 1965.