Shelter inflation, mostly a measure of rents that lags behind real market conditions by many months, was still running hot in May, with an annual rate of 5.4%.

Calgary, Alberta, has one of the most aggressive programs in North America to promote office to residential conversions. Facing an enormous hole in its property-tax base, Calgary in 2021 approved a conversion program featuring an unprecedented subsidy of 75 Canadian dollars a square foot, equivalent to $55 a square foot. Unlike many conversion programs in the U.S., Calgary’s plan has no major strings attached, such as an affordable-housing requirement.

Food services accounted for more than 19% of all retail leases last year, rising in recent years to the highest proportion for any category since tracking began in 2007. Total restaurant sales are on track to top $1.1 trillion this year, a 5.4% increase from 2023’s record-high level.

About half a million new apartments opened in 2023, the most in 40 years. Based on what is already under construction, analysts expect a similar number to be completed in 2024. However, developers are now launching fewer projects amid the financing crunch. Multifamily building starts fell to an annual rate of 322,000 units in April, the lowest April rate since 2020.

Chicago’s office-vacancy rate has soared to 16.3% from 11.9% in early 2020, and it is notably higher than the U.S. average of 13.8%. Some downtown office buildings have sold for less than one-quarter of what they were valued at a few years ago.

About 3,000 fewer drugstores were open for business at the start of this year compared with the same period in 2019.

Starwood Real Estate Investment Trust is running low on liquidity as spooked investors pull money amid rising debt costs and fears over real estate valuations. The Starwood Trust, owned by private real estate investor Starwood Capital Group, has borrowed more than $1.3 billion from its $1.55 billion unsecured credit facility since the beginning of 2023 due to high redemption demands.

As of April, $19.9 billion in office CMBS loans will mature by next spring. That’s a marked increase over the $8.75 billion in office CMBS debt that matured in 2023. Outside of the CMBS universe, $929 billion — or 20% of the $4.7 trillion in outstanding commercial mortgages across all CRE lender types — will mature in 2024, a 28% increase from $729 billion that matured last year.

Developers are building new houses for rent at an unprecedented rate, aiming to capitalize on the steep home prices and higher mortgage rates that are forcing many Americans to keep renting. In 2023, 93,000 new single-family homes for rent were completed, 39% more rental homes than in 2022, and the most in any year ever.

Walmart has worked to cut costs over the past year in some areas as it gives priority to spending elsewhere. Last month the company said it would shut all 51 of the health clinics it has opened over the past five years as it tried to build a bigger healthcare business.