The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, which measures home prices across the nation, rose 3.9% from a year earlier in September, compared with a 2.5% annual increase the prior month. The September level was the highest since the index began in 1987. Home sales have slumped from a year ago because higher mortgage rates have pushed buyers out of the market. But the decline in demand isn’t causing prices to fall, because the inventory of homes on the market is unusually low.

Blackstone head Steve Schwarzman plans to spend billions buying up dorms, warehouses, and data centers across Europe.

In the first nine months of 2019, 88% of CMBS office loans were paid off when they matured. As interest rates and vacancies rose, that share dropped to 71% in the first nine months of 2022 and to just 31.2% this year.

Lenders this year have issued a record number of foreclosure notices for high-risk property loans. Commonly known as mezzanine loans, these loans have high interest rates and offer a faster and easier path to foreclose than mortgages. The current number of these high-risk loans is the highest total ever for a single year, as higher interest rates and rising vacancies punish the property sector.

With mortgage rates near 8% and average home prices hitting record highs, sales of existing homes were down 15.4% year-over-year in September.

Regulators closed Signature Bank in March after a run on its deposits, marking the fourth-largest bank failure in U.S. history. Now, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is auctioning off thousands of Signature loans backed by apartment buildings and other commercial properties primarily in the New York region. Bids are due Thursday on what is the biggest and most closely watched commercial-property sale of the year. Loans are expected to sell on average 15% to 40% below their original face amount.

Through bankruptcy, WeWork filed a motion to reject approximately 69 active leases, 40 of which are in New York. The company also said it is in active negotiations with more than 400 landlords to amend existing leases.

WeWork is planning to file for bankruptcy as early as next week in what would mark a stunning reversal for the flexible-office-space venture that was once valued at $47 billion.

The entire commercial property debt market—including banks, commercial mortgage securities and nonbank lenders and others—increased less than 1% in the second quarter. That was the lowest quarterly rise since the first quarter of 2014.

Developers are rushing to build hundreds of data centers, especially those with the high power and cooling systems that AI servers need. Blackstone, for one, has grown its data-center development pipeline to more than $15 billion from only $1 billion in two years.