New York property owner RXR completed its purchase of 590 Madison Avenue, the former IBM building, for $1.1 billion. That was the first New York office sale to exceed $1 billion in nearly three years.
New York City’s office market leased 23.2 million square feet in the first nine months of 2025, the largest amount in 19 years.
During the three months ended Aug. 31, the median sale price for luxury properties—defined as the top 5% of the market—increased 3.9% year over year to $1.25 million. But that is down from a 6.1% year-over-year price jump for the three months ended Aug. 31, 2024.
Rents in the top 20 U.S. markets for single-family homes are expected to rise 0.8% this year. That would be the slowest pace since 2011, when job losses caused by the global financial crisis made it hard to increase rent.
Overall, companies are requiring 12% more time in-office than in early 2024, according to data on policies for 9,000 employers. Yet Americans still work from home about a quarter of the time—much like in 2023.
Compass is acquiring Anywhere Real Estate for $1.6 billion in an all-stock transaction. Compass and Anywhere were already the first- and second-biggest brokerages by volume in 2024. The all-stock transaction would create a new industry giant with an enterprise value of about $10 billion, including debt, in one of the largest deals ever in the residential brokerage industry.
More than 15% of home purchase agreements fell through in July, which is the highest percentage for that month since tracking cancellations in 2017, and there are currently 36% more home sellers than buyers.
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 6.35%. That’s the lowest level since October and a notable drop from January, when rates were above 7%.
San Fransisco is still flooded with vacant office space, and many of its buildings are obsolete or in distress. The vacancy rate is 22.8%, down slightly from the record high it hit last year but still more than triple what it was in 2019.
