The sale of nonfungible tokens fell to a daily average of about 19,000 this week, a 92% decline from a peak of about 225,000 in September. The number of active wallets in the NFT market fell 88% to about 14,000 last week from a high of 119,000 in November.
Waldorf Astoria
The project is aiming to finish before the end of next year, though work may continue into 2024, with costs now are expected to run to more than $2 billion. That means the total acquisition and conversion costs will approach or potentially exceed $4 billion, making it one of the largest, most intricate and most expensive condo conversion and hotel rebuild projects undertaken.
Nasdaq Slide
Stocks skidded Friday, with the Dow falling more than 900 points. An April tech rout pushed the Nasdaq down 13% for the month, its worst since 2008.
Real Estate Fund Flows
U.S. equity fund allocations to real estate, a guide for sentiment among professional money managers, have fallen to 2.4%, from 3.1% before the pandemic, according to data from Emerging Portfolio Fund Research. Global allocations have also dipped. Meanwhile, inflows into listed real-estate funds, a better proxy for attitudes among retail investors, are increasing.
BX PSB
Blackstone said it has reached a deal to buy PS Business for about $7.6 billion, including debt. PSB, a real-estate investment trust, owns and operates industrial and low-rise suburban offices and business parks, mostly in California, Miami, Texas and Northern Virginia. As of March 30, the company owned 96 properties with 4,900 tenants. The company’s portfolio also includes 800 residential units.
Trump Washington
Miami investment fund, CGI Merchant Group is paying $375 million to buy Trumps’ Washington Hotel lease and will begin the process of rebranding the property as a Waldorf Astoria.
Warehouse Rents
Warehouse rental rates increased 15.2% annually across the U.S. in Q1 of 2022.
Fed
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled the central bank was likely to raise interest rates by a half percentage point at its meeting next month and indicated similar rate rises could be warranted after that to lower inflation.
Blackstone
Blackstone’s assets under management rose to $915.5 billion, up from $880.9 billion in the prior quarter and $648.8 billion a year earlier. The firm raised nearly $50 billion during the quarter, pushing it closer to its goal of reaching $1 trillion in assets by 2026.
HST
Host Hotels & Resorts has sold the 1,780-room Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel for $373 million.