The Biden administration extended through June a federal moratorium on evicting individuals making up to $99,000 and couples making up to $198,000 annually who say they can’t pay rent because of coronavirus-related hardships.
Landlords are offering long-term office leases of four and more years at discounts up to 13% below rent rates reached in the first quarter of 2020. Companies are also seeking on average about 10% less space.
Real-estate investment trusts overall rose 9% during the first quarter, beating the S&P 500’s 6% gain. Fueling the REIT rally was an 18% rise in the shares of lodging owners and a 32% gain by mall owners.
About 70% of mortgages issued in 2020 went to borrowers with credit scores of at least 760, up from 61% in 2019.
At the end of 2020, 137 million square feet of office space was available for sublease across the U.S., up 40% from a year earlier and the highest figure since 2003.
Digital Bridge, merged with Colony Capital in 2019, at which time 80% of Colony’s assets were in traditional real estate. Since then, 60% of the merged company’s assets have become data centers, cell towers and fiber networks.
Hudson Group, which runs the eponymous convenience shops in U.S. airports and temporarily closed more than 700 of its more than 1,000 stores during the pandemic, has reopened 635 of them.
The federal eviction moratorium doesn’t guarantee renters the right to renew their leases. When leases expire, that is when many landlords weigh the government’s offered rent assistance payments against the chance to remove a tenant the owner no longer wants in the building.
Alphabet Inc. said it would spend $7 billion this year expanding its footprint of offices and data centers across the U.S., including pouring $1 billion into its home state of California.
