In recent months, wealthy political appointees, new members of Congress and business leaders have flooded the luxury real-estate market in Washington, D.C., scooping up multimillion-dollar properties in the nation’s capital and in nearby McLean, Va.

The federal government currently leases 149.39 million square feet of office space across the nation, with rent payments totaling $5.23 billion annually. In total, the GSA owns and leases more than 363 million square feet of space in 8,397 buildings nationally. A filing of its real estate inventory found 1,715 of the GSA’s listed leases nationally are set to expire in 2025 and 2026, totaling at least 47 million square feet.

The Trump administration is considering selling two-thirds of the federal government’s office stock to the private sector, and approximately three-quarters of the 70 million square feet of office space the GSA leases from private landlords in D.C. is also likely to be canceled.

The stock market is pricing portfolios of American homes at a hefty discount to what houses are changing hands for in the open market. Shares of publicly traded single-family landlords are trading at 35% and 20% discounts to their net asset values.

CBRE announced Tuesday that it has agreed to purchase the 60% stake that it didn’t already own in Industrious, a deal that values the co-working company at about $800 million. Industrious has more than 200 locations in over 65 cities globally that make office space available to businesses on flexible terms.

Retail availability has fallen to record-low levels since the pandemic, thanks in part to a dearth in new store construction. Rent prices are climbing in many places.

The national vacancy rate for multifamily apartments reached 8% in the last quarter of 2024—higher than it was before the pandemic. Led by four and five star units over 11%, three star units above 7%, with one and two star units just over 5% vacant.

The national office-vacancy rate for primary markets ended 2024 at a record 20.4%. The delinquency rate of debt backed by office buildings converted into securities hit 11.01%—the highest since tracking began in 2000.

An estimated $18 trillion of household wealth was lost in China caused by the country’s property meltdown since 2021.

In July, President Biden called on Congress to pass national rent control that would force corporate landlords to cap their rent increases at 5% or else forfeit their federal tax breaks. Capitol Hill didn’t adopt that proposal but local jurisdictions continue to experiment with rent control as voters demand lower housing costs.