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.
The second-largest owner of U.S. marinas is acquiring the third-largest owner, creating a new powerhouse in this niche real-estate business as boat sales surge during the pandemic. Centerbridge Partners LP said it is paying about $400 million for Westrec Marinas, which the investment firm will absorb into its own Suntex Marinas. That will create a combined company with more than 50 marinas that is valued at $2.5 billion, making it the second-highest-valued U.S. marina owner after Safe Harbor Marinas.
Overall, commercial-property sales totaled a record $809 billion in 2021. That was nearly double 2020’s total, and it exceeded the previous record of about $600 billion in 2019.
Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, a fund sold in increments as little as $2,500, has raised more than $50 billion since it started five years ago. The fund, known as BREIT, raised an average of more than $2 billion a month, or close to a 70% share of all the money invested in 2021 in nontraded REITs.
An average of only 28% of the workforce last week returned to the office in the 10 major cities monitored by Kastle Systems. That compares with more than 40% the first week in December.
Entities tied to Adam Neumann, who built office co-working giant WeWork, have been quietly acquiring majority stakes in more than 4,000 apartments valued at more than $1 billion in Miami, Atlanta, Nashville, Tenn., Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and other U.S. cities. Many of these investments occurred within the past year.
Oak Hill has agreed to buy 110 North Wacker Drive from Howard Hughes Corp. in a deal that values the 1.5-million-square-foot skyscraper at more than $1 billion. That would be the highest price paid for a Chicago property building since the beginning of the pandemic.
Since Feb 21., 2020, just before the pandemic tanked markets, self-storage shares in the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index have returned about 84% between price gains and dividend payments.
Blackstone Inc. is in advanced talks to acquire a 49% stake in One Manhattan West that values the skyscraper at $2.85 billion from a venture led by Brookfield Asset Management.
