The Cboe Volatility Index, or the VIX, has fallen to around 14, near the lowest levels since February 2020.
Prologis Blackstone
Prologis has agreed to pay Blackstone $3.1 billion for a portfolio of U.S. warehouses and distribution properties. The portfolio includes nearly 14 million square feet in about 70 properties in major markets. The all-cash deal, which is one of the largest commercial real-estate transactions of 2023, is expected to close by the end of June.
WFH Days
A survey of 4,500 companies’ return-to-office policies found that nearly 300 require employees to come in on specific days. Of those, just under a quarter ask employees to come in on Mondays, with many more stipulating staff be in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Just 7% tell employees to come in on Fridays.
Return to Office
Office buildings are only about 50% as full, with public-transportation ridership at less than 70%, as before Covid-19 across 10 major metro areas.
Housing Starts
New building permits for private housing in the U.S. fell by a seasonally adjusted 21.1% in April compared with a year earlier, while construction starts were down 22.3%
S&P Outperforms
The S&P 500 has risen 14% this year, beating an 8.5% advance by the MSCI All Country World ex USA Index, which tracks developed and emerging-market stocks.
REIT Prices
Share prices of the five largest real-estate investment trusts that concentrate on downtown office buildings were down an average 63% in June compared to the end of 2019. Price declines were much smaller for REITs focused on retail property down 7% and apartment-focused REITs down 8%.
Worker Pay
Compensation for the median worker at 278 companies in the S&P 500 index was higher in 2022 than in the year before. About 100 of the companies said their median worker’s pay rose 10% or more, roughly the same number as in 2021.
Student Loans
Around 43 million people in the U.S., some 17% of the adult population, have federal student debt. Out of those borrowers, roughly 26.6 million—or about 10% of the adult population—had loans in forbearance as of the first quarter. This was thanks to the federal government’s suspension of payments and interest accrual starting in March 2020 and that pause is ending August 30.
Connecting Rooms
Hotel and resort managers say requests for connecting rooms and suites have increased recently as multigenerational families and large groups of friends gather. Some hotels have reported a more than 20% increase in demand for these types of rooms.