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.

Foot traffic to U.S. indoor malls was down 4% on average in 2023 from the prior year, and about 12% lower than 2019 levels. Alternatively, increasing demand for open-air space has driven up shopping-center rents to nearly $24 a square foot, the highest level since tracking the metric in 2007.

BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, announced it is buying Global Infrastructure Partners for about $12 billion in cash and stock. The acquisition is part of the firm’s increased focus on infrastructure.

Rent inflation for studios to two-bedrooms in the top 50 metros declined for seven consecutive months, with the national median asking price falling to $1,717.

A staggering 19.6% of office space in major U.S. cities wasn’t leased as of the fourth quarter, up from 18.8% a year earlier. That is slightly above the previous records of 19.3% set in 1986 and 1991 and the highest number since at least 1979.

During the third quarter of 2023, big landlords that own anywhere from 100 to more than 1,000 housing units purchased just 1% of all the homes sold in the U.S. This is down from roughly 3% throughout 2022. America’s rental market remains dominated by mom-and-pop landlords, who buy nearly one-in-five of all the U.S. family homes that come up for sale.

Rents for new leases rose more than 20% during two years spanning 2021 and 2022. That growth moderated last year as rents either barely rose or slightly declined with real-estate firms projecting total rent growth in the very low single digits this year.

Nontraded REITs raised $9.8 billion last year, compared with $33.2 billion during all of 2022. Meanwhile, investors redeemed about $17.4 billion, far surpassing the $12 billion redeemed in all of 2022.

Rents averaged $2,000 a square foot on upper Fifth Avenue over the past year. That was about 13% higher than the world’s next-most-expensive shopping destination, Via Montenapoleone in Milan. New York City displaced Hong Kong last year to top the chart for the first time since 2017.

Return-to-office rates have stalled for most of 2023. The average office attendance is about half of its prepandemic level in the 60% to 65% range, but the return rate has seemed to have topped out.