Workers’ office use on average is around 50% of prepandemic levels in 10 major U.S. cities. Employee engagement—a measure of how involved and enthusiastic workers are about their work and workplace—slipped in 2022 for a second consecutive year.
CMBS Delinquencies
The delinquency rate for office loans that back commercial-mortgage-backed securities remains low, but it is heading higher. The rate last month rose by a quarter of a percentage point to 1.83%, its largest increase since December 2021.
Venture Fundraising
Venture firms raised $20.6 billion in new funds in the fourth quarter. That was a 65% drop from the year-earlier quarter and the lowest fourth-quarter amount since 2013. The amount was also less than half the level raised in the preceding three months, the first time fundraising volumes decreased from the third to fourth quarter since 2009.
Home Sales
From August to November of last year, home sales were down an average of 25% year on year for the top third of the market, but an average of just 11% for the bottom third.
Rate Outlook
Following the consumer-price print, derivatives markets showed the federal-funds rate peaking at 5.28% in August. Hopes that the Fed would cut rates several times this year faded with the benchmark rate forecast to end the year above 5.12%.
KSL Martin Resorts
Private equity firm KSL Capital Partners has acquired the Martin Resorts Collection and its five independent, boutique hotels. The five hotels totaling 346 rooms are located on California’s central coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Super Bowl RevPAR
This year’s Super Bowl pushed revenue per available room to $419, the second-highest level for a Super Bowl weekend on record.
The Diplomat Sale
A joint venture between Credit Suisse Asset Management and Trinity Real Estate Investments have acquired The Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Fla. The 1,000-room resort sold for $835 million, the third largest single-asset hotel sale ever in U.S. history,
Brand Conversions
Lodging executives and owners said conversions have been a key driver of growth coming out of the pandemic since lenders are reluctant to finance new hotels.
Hotel Development
There were roughly 612,000 hotel rooms in the active development pipeline at the end of last year, down 2.6% from the year before and 6.1% lower than in 2019. The number of projects entering the pipeline is also falling: About 15.6% fewer rooms were in the planning phase at the end of 2022 compared with a year prior.