A Blackstone-led group will take more than two-thirds ownership stake in Citrin Cooperman, and Blackstone itself will hold an interest of 40% to 45% in the firm. The deal values Citrin Cooperman at more than $2 billion.
Home Mortgage Spread
The spread between current coupon benchmark mortgage bonds and the yield of relevant Treasurys is currently between 1.3 to 1.4 percentage points. That gap has been unusually wide for a few years now, well above the sub-1 point gap seen back in 2019.
Office Update
The national office-vacancy rate for primary markets ended 2024 at a record 20.4%. The delinquency rate of debt backed by office buildings converted into securities hit 11.01%—the highest since tracking began in 2000.
Unemployed
More than 1.6 million of those jobless workers had been job hunting for at least six months. The number of people searching for that long is up more than 50% since the end of 2022.
Credit Spreads
Spreads on 10-year, investment-grade corporate bonds, which make up the core of the market, stood at 86 basis points as of Thursday, down from 116 basis points a year earlier. Before this year, investment-grade spreads hadn’t been that low since 2005.
China Real Estate
An estimated $18 trillion of household wealth was lost in China caused by the country's property meltdown since 2021.
ETF Inflows
Total assets in U.S.-based ETFs reached a record $10.6 trillion at the end of November, an increase of more than 30% from the start of 2024.
Household Debt
Nearly a quarter of total U.S. household debt was held by people 60 and older as of the third quarter, about double the percentage at the start of this century.
Taxes and Insurance
Nationwide, taxes and insurance make up more than half of the monthly mortgage payment for 9% of single-family mortgages. That is up from less than 4% at the end of 2014.
Rent Control
In July, President Biden called on Congress to pass national rent control that would force corporate landlords to cap their rent increases at 5% or else forfeit their federal tax breaks. Capitol Hill didn’t adopt that proposal but local jurisdictions continue to experiment with rent control as voters demand lower housing costs.