Pending home sales fell 4.6% in January 2025 to the lowest level on record as mortgage rates held above 7% for the entire month.

The number of full-time real estate agents and brokers has dropped to its lowest point in more than a decade. During the height of the housing boom in the run-up to the financial crisis, the total number of full-time agents and brokers was about 504,000 in the U.S. and by 2024, that number dropped to 398,000. The last time the number of full-time agents and brokers was that low was in 2013.

About 7.05% of FHA mortgages issued last year went seriously delinquent—90 or more days past when a payment is due—within 12 months. That’s more than at the 2008 peak of the subprime bubble (7.02%).

The cost of a so-called “starter home” has soared in recent years. In 2012, the typical median sale price for what is defined as a starter home was $95,000. That price rose in 2019 to $165,500 — and it rose further, to $250,000, last year.

Shelter costs increased 4.4% in January from last year. That was the smallest annual uptick since January 2022, and well below the peak period of 2023.

Blackstone Real Estate Partners X has completed its previously announced acquisition of all outstanding common shares of Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. for $17.50 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $4 billion, including outstanding debt.

Values for less than premium grade A office buildings are about 35% to 60% lower than they were before the pandemic.

Opportunistic real-estate funds had $196.8 billion available at the end of last year, up from $179.9 billion at the end of 2020.

There are around 1,500 consumer-branded residences around the world, with half completed and half in development. That total is expected to exceed 3,700 by 2040.

The volume of office building sales increased to $63.6 billion in 2024, up 20% from 2023. That activity still pales compared with 2015 to 2019, when volume averaged $142.9 billion a year. But it marked the first increase since 2021.