Market News

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.

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.

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.

An estimated $18 trillion of household wealth was lost in China caused by the country's property meltdown since 2021.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Average 30-year mortgages have climbed to around 6.7% from roughly 6.1% since the Fed started lowering rates in September and are only poised to rise further as the yield on the 10-year Treasurys continue to rise.

Blackstone has marked its most active year in Japan, with about $7.7 billion in transactions across its real estate and private equity business in the country.