Foot traffic at a representative sample of 50 malls in March was up 86% from the same month last year. While that foot traffic was 24% lower than in March 2019, mall owners are hopeful that their business has turned a corner.
Median asking rent rose 1.1% on an annual basis in March to $1,463 a month across the country’s 50 largest markets. That marked the first month where the pace of rent growth had increased since last summer.
Kimco Realty Corp. has agreed to acquire fellow grocery-anchored shopping-center owner Weingarten Realty Investors for nearly $3.9 billion in cash and stock.
The U.S. housing market is 3.8 million single-family homes short of what is needed to meet the country’s demand, according to a new analysis by mortgage-finance company Freddie Mac. The estimate represents a 52% rise in the nation’s home shortage compared with 2018, the first time Freddie Mac quantified the shortfall.
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.
