Thursday, June 25, 2026

On Tap Today

  • Bumped by Trump: Trump tied a major housing bill to the SAVE America Act, raising veto uncertainty.

  • Wacker woes: A Chicago office tower owned by Blackstone defaults on its loan despite sitting in a recovering district.

  • Defense on offense: A fully leased defense tech headquarters could fetch the region's biggest office sale.

  • AI in real estate capital raising: A live workshop for capital markets professionals on how AI can transform your fundraising. Sign up

Essential Metrics

Daily Market Snapshot
S&P 500 7,358.22 −7.24 (−0.10%)
FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs 856.68 −0.86 (−0.10%)
10-Year Treasury 4.40% −8 bps
SOFR 3.62% +1 bp
Data as of market close June 24, 2026. SOFR reflects the prior business day's published print.
Equities and listed real estate both drifted lower by a tenth of a percent, a muted session that masked a more consequential move at the long end of the curve. The 10-year Treasury fell roughly eight basis points to 4.40% as Brent crude collapsed toward pre-war levels, easing the inflation premium in fixed-rate benchmarks and improving take-out math for borrowers eyeing refinancings. That relief skipped the front end, where SOFR ticked up one basis point to 3.62% and kept floating-rate carry marginally heavier. With the Fed still signaling a possible hike, the steepening backdrop rewards locking fixed over riding the short end.

Editor’s Pick

Why Trump May Actually Veto the Largest Housing Bill in Decades

Congress just passed the most significant housing affordability bill in decades, with overwhelming bipartisan support and provisions aimed at increasing supply, cutting regulatory barriers, and limiting institutional ownership of single-family homes. By any normal political standard, it should have been an easy win.

Instead, Trump canceled the signing and tied the bill’s fate to an unrelated voter ID measure that has little chance of clearing the Senate. That move has left one of the rare bipartisan housing victories of the election year suspended in uncertainty.

For the real estate industry, the delay matters because the bill is more than political symbolism. Its provisions touch manufactured housing, office-to-residential conversions, build-to-rent, and private equity ownership of homes, making the final outcome important no matter how the standoff ends.

Read More
Fast Take

Blackstone's Chicago Office Default Shows Distress Continues Despite Recovery

601W Companies defaulted on a $343 million Blackstone Mortgage Trust loan secured by One South Wacker Drive, a 40-story office tower in Chicago's financial center. The loan, originated in 2018, reached its maturity deadline on June 9 and required a principal payoff that 601W could not meet. Blackstone Mortgage Trust confirmed the asset had been on its watchlist since 2022, though it represents less than 2 percent of the REIT's portfolio. Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust dropped 3.7 percent to $17.48 following the announcement.
601W purchased the 1.2 million-square-foot building in 2018 for approximately $310 million and renovated it in 2020 as the pandemic emptied downtown office space. The property stands 73 percent occupied and sits two blocks from Willis Tower in the West Loop, an area that has outperformed other downtown districts. About $159 million of the original debt was securitized into a commercial mortgage-backed security. 601W, led by Mark Karasick and Michael Silberberg, also owns the Aon Center and the Old Post Office in Chicago.
Chicago's office market shows a 27 percent vacancy rate in the central business district, and buildings continue to sell at steep discounts to pre-pandemic prices. In February, 601W bought 175 West Jackson for $41 million, an 87 percent markdown from its $306 million valuation before Covid. Kastle Systems ranks Chicago third nationally for return-to-office occupancy, and crime rates have improved, yet property values remain depressed. The default adds to a growing list of distressed Chicago office assets unable to meet debt obligations despite operational improvements.
 
Fast Take

Long-Term Defense Tenant Draws Institutional Buyers to $400M California Sale

A 634,000-square-foot office and research campus in Costa Mesa, California, leased entirely to defense technology company Anduril Industries is on the market for roughly $400 million. Invesco and SteelWave own the property, which serves as Anduril's headquarters under a lease with 13 years remaining. Eastdil Secured is handling the sale. The valuation is based on a $251 million mortgage from a Pimco real estate fund secured in September, typically representing about 65 percent of a property's value.
Marty Pupil of Stream Realty Partners in Irvine, California, said the investment reflects Anduril's credit quality and long-term federal government contracts rather than broader market conditions. He expects a large U.S. or foreign institutional fund to acquire the asset. Anduril, founded in 2017, develops aerial drones, surveillance networks, and autonomous underwater systems using artificial intelligence. The company raised $7.5 billion over the past year and was valued at $61 billion in a May funding round led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.
Southern California has become one of the nation's fastest-growing defense technology hubs, driven by increased federal spending and evolving weapons strategies since conflicts in Ukraine and Iran. Venture capital investment in U.S. defense technology startups reached $11.4 billion through mid-June, more than double the $4.6 billion invested during the same period last year. Anduril announced plans in January for a $1 billion production facility in Long Beach and is building a 5 million-square-foot industrial park in Ohio for combat aircraft production.
If completed near the estimated price, the Costa Mesa deal would be the largest office transaction in the region this year, surpassing the $210 million sale of Bank of America Plaza in Los Angeles this month. Invesco and SteelWave bought the property, a former Los Angeles Times printing plant, for $65 million in 2017 and finished extensive renovations in 2023. Single-tenant properties with long-term leases to creditworthy tenants have attracted investor interest even as office markets face broader headwinds.

Overheard

Popular Articles

Student Housing Is Becoming the Test Lab for Multifamily Tech

Student housing operators pioneered mobile access control and app-based building management. Those innovations are now spreading across all multifamily property types.

https://propmodo.com/student-housing-is-becoming-the-test-lab-for-multifamily-tech/

The Complicated Second Life of Memphis’ Tallest Tower

Memphis’ tallest tower moves toward a difficult mixed-use rebirth, testing whether obsolete office landmarks can become apartments, hotel rooms, retail and civic anchors downtown again.

https://propmodo.com/playbook/the-complicated-second-life-of-memphis-tallest-tower/

Why Did Bed Bath and Beyond Just Buy a Real Estate Brokerage?

Bed Bath and Beyond's $53 million all-stock acquisition of Fathom Holdings is the clearest signal yet that CEO Marcus Lemonis is serious about building the first end-to-end homeownership platform, combining brokerage, mortgage, title, furnishings, and home services under one roof.

https://propmodo.com/why-did-bed-bath-and-beyond-just-buy-a-real-estate-brokerage/

The Digital Experience Renters Expect Now Requires a Different Kind of Wi-Fi Strategy

As renter demographics shift and property-wide digital experiences become a competitive expectation, multifamily operators are discovering that good connectivity requires a fundamentally different approach to planning, infrastructure, and vendor coordination.

https://propmodo.com/the-digital-experience-renters-expect-now-requires-a-different-kind-of-wi-fi-strategy/

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