Thursday, November 5, 2026

On Tap Today

Trump card: Democrats swept Congress, but Trump’s veto power likely preserves CRE-related energy and tax changes.
Pension tension: A criminal probe opens after a German pension fund flags massive US property losses.
Rebel alliance: Four major brokerages launch a shared platform to counter Compass's private-listing model.
Office webinar: Join us Nov. 12 for a look at how owners are repositioning office portfolios heading into 2027. Register

Essential Metrics

Daily Market Snapshot
S&P 500	7,688.62	+119.70 (+1.58%)
FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs	859.83	+25.21 (+3.02%)
10-Year Treasury	4.90%	−6 bp
SOFR	3.97%	+2 bp
Data as of market close November 4, 2026. SOFR reflects the November 3 trade date.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.58 percent to 7,688.62 on Wednesday as Democrats' sweep of Congress and an 8 percent drop in oil prices set off a broad rally, with the Dow gaining more than 1,500 points. The 10-year Treasury yield fell 6 basis points to 4.90 percent, unwinding Tuesday's jump as cheaper oil and the prospect of gridlock eased inflation worries and gave fixed-rate borrowers some relief. The FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs index surged 3.02 percent to 859.83, led by office REITs up 5.16 percent, with every property sector finishing higher and lodging and diversified REITs gaining the least at about 1.1 percent. SOFR rose 2 basis points to 3.97 percent on the November 3 trade date, nudging up floating-rate carry on bridge and construction loans.

WEBINAR

What if AI could check your property data?

Incomplete or inconsistent property records create risk, but continuously checking an entire portfolio manually isn’t realistic.

Join Re-Leased on November 19 to see how AI can continuously check property records, surface what needs attention and help reduce data risk.

LIVE WEBINAR | NOVEMBER 19

Federal Policy

A Blue Wave Meets a Veto Pen: What the Midterms Mean for CRE

Democrats will control both chambers of Congress in January after an election night that went far better for them than almost anyone predicted, with at least 228 House seats and 54 Senate seats secured by Wednesday morning and Senate flips in states like Kansas, Texas and South Carolina. Markets barely moved. Investors seem to understand that winning Congress is not the same as governing from it while Donald Trump holds the veto, and overriding him would take 290 House votes and 67 in the Senate, numbers Democrats are nowhere near.

For commercial real estate, that means the tax code owners are working with today is likely the one they will have in 2028. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act already closed the Section 179D deduction to projects that began construction after June 30, 2026, and the same law made 100% bonus depreciation permanent. Reversing either would take a bill with Trump’s signature on it. Tariffs on steel, aluminum and other building materials rest on executive authority, so Congress can apply pressure but cannot change them on its own.

Where the new majority gains real leverage is in slowing things down through appropriations, committee chairmanships and subpoenas, which raises the odds of debt-limit fights and shutdowns. History suggests property markets won’t care much. Since 1978, private real estate returns in the year after a midterm have looked like returns in any other year, and Cushman & Wakefield expects the 10-year yield to hold between 4.5% and 5.0% through 2027, with returns coming from rising income rather than falling cap rates.

How confident are you in the accuracy of your property data?

Cross-Border Property Losses Trigger Criminal Probe at German Pension Fund

Munich prosecutors raided Deutsche Finance on Tuesday as part of an investigation into US real estate investments that produced substantial losses for BVK, Germany's largest public-sector pension fund. BVK oversees €122 billion in retirement assets for 2.8 million Bavarians and has flagged potential write-offs of as much as €853 million on US properties linked to Deutsche Finance and New York developer Michael Shvo's firm SHVO. Deutsche Finance confirmed the search and said it is cooperating as a third party, while prosecutors declined to specify the focus of their probe. Süddeutsche Zeitung reported the investigation centers on allegations of bribery through trips and amenities.

BVK invested roughly €1.6 billion in a portfolio of US trophy assets including the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, 685 Fifth Avenue and 711 Fifth Avenue in New York, 9200 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, and 333 South Wabash in Chicago. By the end of last year, the pension group had already written off €392 million of those investments. SHVO said earlier this year that the properties are outperforming the market with record rents and blue-chip tenants, while Deutsche Finance said in January that its US subsidiary had no discretionary authority over investment selection or execution.

Two senior BVK managers departed after an internal investigation found compliance violations, including lavish business trips. German prosecutors have not accused Shvo or his firm of wrongdoing, and neither Deutsche Finance nor the prosecutors mentioned SHVO in their Tuesday communications. Germany's vocational pension fund industry, which manages roughly €300 billion in retirement savings, operates under fragmented supervision and is often overseen by people with limited investing experience.

Several German vocational pension funds have surfaced as backers of US real estate developments and other investments that faltered when interest rates rose. BVK's losses have intensified scrutiny of governance practices across the €300 billion sector, which forms a critical piece of Germany's retirement infrastructure. The Munich prosecutors' office said it will release additional details on the investigation in the coming days.

Bloomberg

German Raid Adds to Scrutiny of Pension Fund’s US Property Deals

Four Brokerages Form Shared Listing System to Counter Compass Strategy

AGNT, HomeServices of America, Keller Williams and Real REMAX Group announced Oct. 26 they are backing Open Real Estate, a shared listing platform designed to distribute property data across multiple listing services and authorized websites. Participating brokerages would be required to submit new listings within one business day of signing a seller agreement. Brown Harris Stevens, Lamacchia Realty, Samson Properties and Windermere are among the initial participants, with the four founding companies covering the cost of building the technology at no initial charge to members.

Six regional multiple listing services representing more than 120,000 real estate professionals filed a federal lawsuit against Compass last month seeking to enforce rules requiring brokers to share property listings. OneKey MLS in New York has since joined a separate lawsuit brought by California Regional Multiple Listing Service. Compass has expanded its private-listing network, arguing that homeowners should control when and how their properties are advertised; the company's research shows sellers who first marketed properties as Private Exclusives or Coming Soons achieved sale prices 4.6% higher than comparable homes listed directly on the MLS and went under contract 34% faster.

Open Real Estate includes a "participant view" feature allowing certain properties to be shared exclusively among agents at participating brokerages without public marketing, similar to a system used by the Real Estate Board of New York. Brown Harris Stevens CEO Bess Freedman said the feature would accommodate a small percentage of sellers requesting privacy for security or personal reasons, while the broader platform aims to prevent data hoarding. Compass CEO Robert Reffkin said the new national listing service would return greater control to homeowners and their agents, and Open Real Estate's founders said Compass would be welcome to join the platform.

The initiative comes after Compass completed a $1.6 billion merger with Anywhere Real Estate, bringing major brokerage brands under the same corporate umbrella. Open Real Estate would operate alongside existing multiple listing services rather than replace them. A Compass spokesperson said the company is challenging industry rules so homeowners can market their homes publicly even if they choose channels other than the MLS or Zillow, arguing that the law does not require homeowners to give those private companies their data.

New York Post

Real Estate Giants Launch National Home Database as Battle Over ‘Private’ Listings Heats Up

Office Market Trends and Portfolio Strategies webinar

Free Live Webinar · Thursday, Nov. 12

Office Market Trends and Portfolio Strategies Heading Into 2027

1:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM PT

Office markets are still adjusting to shifting tenant demand, new workplace expectations, and changing investment conditions. Join us for a look at the trends shaping the office market heading into 2027 and how owners and asset managers are positioning their portfolios to perform.

✓	Evaluating asset performance and repositioning properties
✓	Adapting leasing strategies to shifting tenant demand
✓	How tenants are actually using office space, and what that means for layouts

Speakers

	Peter Miscovich Executive Managing Director, Global Future of Work Leader, JLL
	Thierry Ondet Managing Director, ROOM
	Todd Burner Chief Product Officer, Kastle Systems
	Franco Faraudo Editor and Co-Founder, Propmodo (Moderator)