Metro Chicago will see the fifth-largest number of apartment units delivered in 2018 among the top 50 U.S. metros. That Chicago completion activity has spiked 25% compared with last year, RentCafé data shows.

Three value-add multifamily communities in Houston’s Westchase district are under new ownership. The Valcap Group purchased the portfolio of 1,331 units from Ascension Commercial Real EstateMoriah Group.

verything is bigger in Texas. Well, everything but multifamily unit mixes, at least recently. Historically, developers have built larger apartments in Dallas-Fort Worth, with a heavy focus on two-three-bedroom units. However, following a national trend, unit mixes have become more one-bedroomstudio heavy in Dallas-Fort Worth in recent years.

At the end of 2017, it appeared as if the Dallas-Fort Worth apartment market was finally reaching a late-cycle phase. Rent growthabsorption were slowing, concessions were risingsupply was cresting. Perhaps most importantly, the critical driver of apartment demand, job growth, was slightly weaker last year than the 20152016 levels.

Houston is likely going to host multiple World Cup games in 2026,that could be a major boon not just for economic impactimmediate hospitality dollars, but also in more permanent ways, with new corporate ties, increased convention activity, more developmenteasier employee recruitmentretention.

U.S. employment rose by 223,000 jobs in May, beating consensus expectations of 190,000 jobscontinuing the longest streak of job growth on record. May’s strong gain was higher than the average monthly jobs gain of 191,000 over the past 12 monthslowered the unemployment rate to an 18-year low of 3.8%. Average hourly earnings rose 0.3%, or 8 cents month-on-month, versus a forecast of 0.2% growth. Wages were up 2.7% for the year in May, marginally higher than the 2.6% posted in April. Revisions to MarchApril jobs numbers resulted in a net gain of 15,000 jobs. The labor force participation rate was largely unchanged at 62.7%.

Transactional cap rates tracked by CoStar for Orange County multifamily assets have averaged less than 4.5 percent since the start of 2016. That year, they averaged 4.4 percent, while last year tracked at 4.3 percent. In 2018, they have fallen even further in the face of interest rate hikes. Through the first half of 2018, transactional cap rates dropped below 4 percent, averaging 3.9 percent.

An amendment to the rules on outbound investment from Chinese firms into real estate might give investors a loophole that increases global capital flowstakes Chinese money into new sectors.