The downtown Manhattan availability rate—which includes vacancy and space coming on the market in the next 12 months—increased to 21.3% in the first quarter, compared with 10.3% in early 2020. Average asking rents have fallen to about $57 a square foot from more than $65.
Labor Market
Job growth slowed and unemployment ticked higher last month, marking a break from a string of data showing surprising strength in the labor market.
Employment Data
The length of the average workweek fell last month, to 34.3 from 34.4. The underemployment rate, which includes the unemployed and those marginally attached to the workforce, rose to 7.4%.
Retail Multifamily
As more retail activity goes online with Ecommerce and given the fact that the U.S. is over retailed, mall owners/developers are looking for ways to revitalize and monetize their real estate by adding multifamily to create a mixed-use environment. One of the main drivers of this effort is parking reduction, as developers and retailers have come to the realization that most shopping centers are over parked.
April Markets
It was a notably ugly April for the major averages, with the Dow losing 5% for its worst monthly performance since September 2022. The S&P 500 slid about 4.2% this month, and the Nasdaq lost 4.4%. The three major averages snapped five-month winning streaks.
Home Investors
Investors of all sizes spent billions of dollars buying homes during the pandemic. At the 2022 peak, they bought more than one in every four single-family homes sold, though more recently their activity has slowed as interest rates rose and supply became tighter.
Hotel Construction
According to the latest report of the U.S. hotel construction pipeline trend report, there are 6,065 projects with 702,990 rooms in the pipeline, representing a 9% YOY and 7% YOY increase in projects and rooms, respectively. Across the country, there are 1,144 projects comprising 141,336 rooms under construction, marking a 9% increase in projects and a 1% increase in rooms YOY.
Remote Work
The number of high-paying remote jobs commanding a salary of $100,000 or more dropped 33% across the first quarter of the year compared to the final three months of 2023, with more companies now demanding that workers with higher salaries report to the office.
ARK Withdrawals
Investors have pulled a net $2.2 billion from ARK’s active funds this year, topping outflows from all of 2023.
Blackstone Ares
Blackstone Inc.’s Strategic Partners unit sold a $1.1 billion portfolio of private equity fund interests to Ares Management Corp.