Buyout firms’ global real estate funds are now sitting on more than $300 billion of unspent cash.

Mortgage lenders originated a record $3.69 trillion worth of mortgages last year. With the 30-year mortgage rate near 2.97%, between 15.2 million and 16.7 million Americans could lower their monthly mortgage payments through a refinancing.

The CDC order covers tenants who can’t pay their full rent due to a substantial loss of household income, loss of compensable hours of work, a layoff or extraordinary medical expenses. While the intent of the CDC moratorium was to prevent the spread of Covid, there is no requirement in the order that the income loss be due to Covid.

Research from Moody’s Analytics and the Urban Institute estimates 9.4 million U.S. renter households owed an average of $5,586 in back rent, utilities and related late fees as of January, for a total burden of $52.6 billion.

Real-estate co-working startup Knotel Inc. filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, agreeing for the company to be taken over by real-estate services firm Newmark Group Inc. Newmark is providing Knotel with $20 million in debtor-in-possession financing. New York-based Knotel, founded in 2016, raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors and in August 2019, Knotel said it had reached a valuation of more than $1 billion.

During the pandemic, the share of total apartment debt that banks place into their highest-risk categories has ballooned to 16.9% from 4.6%.

Latch Inc., a maker of smart locks and building-management software, plans to go public by merging with a special-purpose acquisition company. The merger will unite Latch with a SPAC sponsored by New York commercial real-estate firm Tishman Speyer Properties. The deal values Latch at $1.56 billion.

The federal eviction moratorium will be extended to March 31, 2021. Mr. Biden is also asking the Department of Housing and Urban Development to consider extending the foreclosure moratorium and continuing forbearance applications for federally guaranteed mortgages. As of early January, an estimated 2.7 million mortgages are in forbearance according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

New York City renters owe more than $1 billion in unpaid rent.

A group of real-estate startups is aiming to cash in on the remote-work phenomenon. That situation is creating fresh demand for furnished housing on a short-term basis, a fast-growing niche that many property startups and their venture-capital backers are rushing to fill.