S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of real estate news stories published throughout the week.
Overall vacancy in the Canadian office market remained stable in the second quarter, with a number of cities seeing improved downtown conditions, according to a report from CBRE.
Vacancy during the quarter stood at 18.5% and has remained in a narrow 30-basis-point range for the last five quarters. Vacancy in downtown areas remained at 19.4% for three consecutive quarters, while the suburban offices saw a 10-basis-point tightening.
Seven cities in Canada have reported either stable or declining vacancy rates, with Ottawa seeing the largest tightening in vacancy.
Sublet office space stood at 15 million square feet, the lowest level nationally in nearly two years.
CHART OF THE WEEK: US equity REIT valuations fall in Q2
⮞ Valuations for equity real estate investment trusts dropped anew in the second quarter.
⮞ Price-to-net asset value (NAV) valuations for REITs with market capitalization above $200 million closed the second quarter at a median 15.5% discount, coming from a 19.1% discount in April.
⮞ The hotel sector recorded the 30.7% median discount to NAV as of June-end, while datacenters remained the sole sector that traded at a median premium to NAV.
Acquisitions
– 99c acquired an office tower at 180 Maiden Lane in New York City from Clarion Partners LLC and MHP for $297 million, Commercial Observer reported. The 41-story property comprises 1.2 million square feet.
– Hamilton Point Investments LLC acquired four apartment communities including Prose Champions, Prose Copperfield, Prose Cypress Creek and Prose Franzin for $195 million, the Houston Chronicle reported. The communities total 1,174 units and span across Houston, Cypress and Katy, Texas.
– Investcorp Holdings BSC acquired two student housing properties in Austin, Texas, and Gainesville, Fla., for $160 million, Multi-Housing News reported. The properties at the University of Texas and the University of Florida total 914 beds.
– An entity linked to Brookfield Properties LLC acquired The Osprey Links, an apartment complex, in Orlando, Fla., from Mar Osprey LLC for $100.6 million, the Orlando Business Journal reported, citing a deed. The residential property comprises 424 units.
US hotel performance
US hotel performance was up year over year across only one key metric during the week ended July 6, STR reported, citing data from CoStar, which provides information and analytics on property markets.
Revenue per available room was $96.35, down 0.4% from the comparable week in 2023. Occupancy also fell by 0.9% to 61.3%. However, average daily rate rose 0.5% to $157.27.
Among the top 25 markets, New Orleans saw the highest numbers for all three metrics. However, St. Louis and Tampa reported the steepest declines in revenue per available room.
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