In one of the largest distressed deals, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. agreed to sell $17 billion worth of loans seized from the failed Signature Bank to a venture including Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust in a deal that valued the portfolio at about $12 billion.

Overall, global real-estate funds operated by private-equity firms were sitting on $544 billion in cash as of the second quarter of last year—a record level and up from $457 billion at the end of 2022. The largest increase was in so-called opportunistic funds, which often search for distressed opportunities.

Luxury retailers, flush with cash, are spending big on real estate in the world’s most expensive and exclusive shopping corridors. In New York City, Prada recently agreed to buy the building that houses its Fifth Avenue store as well as the building next door for more than $800 million. Gucci’s is also paying nearly $1 billion for a 115,000-square-foot retail space a few blocks south.

In the first half of 2023, international banks represented 25% of loan originations to U.S. central business district offices, compared with 17% for regional and local banks. By contrast, regional and local banks did 54% of lending in that period for medical offices and 45% for suburban offices—versus 2% and 6% at international banks, respectively.

Asking rents for prime space in 16 U.S. markets declined in the third quarter after increasing on average from about $61 a square foot in mid-2021 to close to about $70 in the second quarter of last year. They were just under $69 in the fourth quarter.

Vacancies at U.S. shopping centers fell to 5.3% in the fourth quarter, the lowest level since tracking the metric in 2007. Average asking rents rose to $23.70 a square foot and are now nearly 17% above 2019 levels.

Businesses large and small acquired some 570,000 homes in 2023, down from 802,000 in 2022. Fourth-quarter investor purchases of 123,000 represented the lowest quarterly total in the last eight quarters with 2023 on track for the largest annual drop in investor buying activity in at least 20 years.

In the heart of Boston, the 02115 ZIP Code has catapulted into having the priciest median residential real estate as ranked by price per square foot in the U.S., at $2,663 in December 2023.

Sales of previously owned homes in 2023 dropped to the lowest level in 28 years, as home-buying affordability worsened and the supply of homes for sale remained low. Existing home sales, which make up most of the housing market, slid 19% in 2023 from the prior year to 4.09 million, the lowest full-year level since 1995.

In 2023, $541 billion in debt backed by office buildings, hotels, apartments and other types of commercial real estate came due, the highest amount ever for a single year. Commercial-debt maturities are expected to continue rising, with more than $2.2 trillion coming due between now and the end of 2027.