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%.
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.
Intel has struck a $30 billion funding partnership with Brookfield Asset Management to help finance its massive factory expansion ambitions.
U.S. existing home sales fell in July for the sixth straight month, the longest streak of declines in more than eight years, as higher mortgage rates and a shortage of homes for sale are cooling this once red-hot market.
The FTC issued 42 letters of investigation over mergers or similar transactions during the 2021 fiscal year, almost double the number for 2020 and the highest in more than 10 years.
