Defaults on leveraged loans hit $6 billion in August, the highest monthly total since October 2020, when pandemic shutdowns hobbled the U.S. economy. This sprawling loan market doubled over the past decade to about $1.5 trillion.
The aggregate transaction value of private-equity and venture-backed investments in oil and gas has been just $4.4 billion so far this year compared to the peak in full-year 2014 of $49.5 billion. Meanwhile, there has been nearly $11 billion worth of investments in renewable-energy sources such as solar and wind so far this year, on track to surpass oil and gas for the first time.
An analysis of U.S. Census and Internal Revenue Service data found that in many metro areas, migration patterns led to a net loss for the city centers, often as people relocated to the suburbs. These patterns could prompt concern of a doughnut effect in which city centers are hollowed out as migration and housing demand shift to suburban counties.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York President said that combating high inflation is likely to require lifting the central bank’s benchmark short-term interest rate above 3.5% and holding it at that level through next year.
Nontraded real-estate investment trusts, one of the few ways for individuals to get direct exposure to office towers, warehouses, hotels and other commercial properties, raised a record $36.4 billion last year and are on track to nearly match that level this year.
In the second quarter, the U.S. downtown office vacancy rate surpassed the suburban vacancy rate for the first time in decades. Vacancies fell slightly to 16.8% in the suburbs and rose to 17% in city centers.
Private real-estate funds currently hold 23% of their investments in offices, down from 34% three years ago. These funds’ holdings in retail space have fallen to 10% from 17% over the same period. Meanwhile, industrial properties have grown to account for 31% of those private real-estate funds’ investments and stakes in airports, highways and utilities, so-called infrastructure assets, have grown to 4.1%.
Investors hit their all-time high of 93,700 homes purchased in Q3 2021. The second quarter of 2022 was lower at 87,500 U.S. homes, but it was still up 5.9% over the comparable period in 2021, and investors continue to buy more homes than they did pre-pandemic.
Exchange-traded products linked to commodities recorded their biggest outflow ever in July as investors pulled a net $11.2 billion out of the funds.