Calgary, Alberta, has one of the most aggressive programs in North America to promote office to residential conversions. Facing an enormous hole in its property-tax base, Calgary in 2021 approved a conversion program featuring an unprecedented subsidy of 75 Canadian dollars a square foot, equivalent to $55 a square foot. Unlike many conversion programs in the U.S., Calgary’s plan has no major strings attached, such as an affordable-housing requirement.

According to government data, total hotel employment stands at roughly 1.92 million. This means there are 191,500 less workers in the industry than there were in February 2020, reflecting the scarcity of available employees since the onset of the pandemic.

Food services accounted for more than 19% of all retail leases last year, rising in recent years to the highest proportion for any category since tracking began in 2007. Total restaurant sales are on track to top $1.1 trillion this year, a 5.4% increase from 2023’s record-high level.

In 2008, the U.S. accounted for about a quarter of all outstanding debt issued by the governments of rich countries. Now it accounts for about half.

Airbnb hosts in the U.S. has grown to more than 790,000, an eightfold increase since 2014 and up 35% since the start of the pandemic.

Americans in the first quarter earned about $3.7 trillion from interest and dividends, up roughly $770 billion from four years earlier.

About half a million new apartments opened in 2023, the most in 40 years. Based on what is already under construction, analysts expect a similar number to be completed in 2024. However, developers are now launching fewer projects amid the financing crunch. Multifamily building starts fell to an annual rate of 322,000 units in April, the lowest April rate since 2020.

Host Hotels & Resorts has entered an agreement to acquire fee simple interest in the 450-room Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The price for the transaction, which includes a 49-acre land parcel entitled for development, is stated by Host Hotels as approximately $680m. Blackstone Real Estate acquired the hotel in 2018 for $332m. Host Hotels intends to transition management to Marriott and rebrand the resort under The Ritz-Carlton brand.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s alternative investment platform raised more than $20 billion for senior direct lending in its latest fund targeting private-equity-backed global businesses.

Chicago’s office-vacancy rate has soared to 16.3% from 11.9% in early 2020, and it is notably higher than the U.S. average of 13.8%. Some downtown office buildings have sold for less than one-quarter of what they were valued at a few years ago.