For 2021, extended stay chains ran at an average occupancy of 73%, as other business-oriented hotels recovered much slower averaging less than 60% occupancy.
SoFi Technisys
SoFi is buying banking-software firm Technisys for about $1.1 billion, the latest in a string of deals designed to turn the lender into a one-stop financial shop.
Realty Income
Realty Income Corp. is making the real estate investment trust’s first foray into hotels and gaming with a $1.7 billion sale-leaseback deal for Wynn Resorts' Encore Boston Harbor Resort Casino.
Faster Rate Increases
When the Fed raised interest rates between 2015 and 2018, it did so gradually—and never more than once every quarter. Under the economic outlook they judged most likely last month, most officials last month “suggested that a faster pace of increases…than in the post-2015 period would likely be warranted,” the minutes said.
BX Acquires APTS
Blackstone has agreed to buy rental apartment owner Preferred Apartment Communities in a $5.8 billion deal. Atlanta-based Preferred Apartment owns over 40 rental apartment properties with about 12,000 units in states including Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee. Preferred Apartment also owns 54 shopping centers anchored by grocery stores. About 70% of the deal’s value is in its rental apartments.
Foreclosure Filings
There were 23,204 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings in January, which is up 29% from the month prior, 139% from the same time a year ago and the highest rate since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
BX Crown
Crown Resorts Ltd., one of Australia’s biggest casino operators, said it agreed to a $6.3 billion takeover by Blackstone Inc., following a roughly yearlong effort by the U.S. private-equity giant to acquire the company.
Pandemic Wealth
The average net worth of households headed by someone aged 55 to 64 rose by $180,095 between Jan. 1, 2020 and Sept. 30, 2021, an increase of 15.3%.
Inflation Record
U.S. inflation accelerated last month to 7.5%, a new four-decade high.
Foreign Investment
Foreign investment in U.S. commercial property surpassed pre-pandemic levels last year. Pensions, sovereign-wealth funds and other foreign institutions purchased $70.8 billion of U.S. commercial real estate in 2021. That was the highest total since the $94.6 billion invested in 2018, and nearly double the 2020 figure.