Extra Space Storage Inc. has struck a $12.7 billion deal to combine with smaller rival Life Storage Inc., which earlier rejected a bid from industry behemoth Public Storage. the deal would create the largest storage-facility operator in the country by number of locations. Including debt, the combined company would have an enterprise value of roughly $47 billion.
Home Prices Decline
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, which measures home prices across the nation, fell 0.2% in January compared with December on a seasonally adjusted basis. Prices have fallen for seven straight months, the longest streak of declines since 2012.
Population Moves
Ten of the country’s 25 largest metropolitan areas lost population during the one-year period. The gainers were all in the South or West, with the exception of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, which recorded a small gain after losing residents the year before.
Cancelled Flights
Cancellations were a major headache for travelers in 2022 with about 181,000 flights scrapped by the largest U.S. airlines. Only 2001, following the 9/11 attacks, and 2020, the start of the pandemic, had more flight cancellations over the past two decades.
SVB Cost
The FDIC estimated the failure of SVB will cost a federal insurance fund it oversees about $20 billion, or roughly 10% of the bank’s assets before its failure.
Maturing Office Loans
Within the next three years, loans are maturing on more than 9,500 office buildings and 17% of all U.S. office stock.
Commercial Mortgages
This year will be critical because about $270 billion in commercial mortgages held by banks are set to expire—the highest figure on record. Most of these loans are held by banks with less than $250 billion in assets.
Delinquency Rate
The delinquency rate for commercial mortgage-backed securities increased 0.18 percentage point in February to 3.12%, the second-largest increase since June 2020.
Airfares
Airlines say red-hot travel demand is driving higher prices. The average U.S. round-trip ticket price booked in February was $571, up 23% from a year earlier and 8% from January.
Understaffed
Despite a recent jump in the hospitality sector’s hiring, hotels and restaurants are still understaffed. The accommodation and food-services sector had nearly 1.5 million job openings as of January.