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Good morning. Happy New Year! Here's to a 2026 filled with fresh opportunities, smart deals, and continued growth in CRE. Let’s hit the ground running! 🥂

Today’s issue is sponsored by Agora—the platform hundreds of real estate firms trust to automate operations and scale smarter.

📊 Our Q4 2025 Burns + CRE Daily Fear & Greed Index is now available. Explore investor sentiment, capital access, and sector-level outlooks shaping the 2026 CRE landscape.

CRE Trivia 🧠

What are the very last places in the world to ring in the New Year?

(Answer at the bottom of the newsletter)

Market Snapshot

*Data as of 12/31/2025 market close.

2026 Outlook

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• Level up in 2026: From fast-track analyst programs to elite university certificates, these top CRE courses will sharpen your skills and elevate your career in the year ahead.

• Regional revival: Slowing job shifts and income gains set the stage for a more balanced, affordable housing market in 2026, with non-traditional cities like Detroit and Buffalo poised for a comeback. 

• Materials mess: Copper prices are soaring to decade highs as tariffs, supply shocks, and rising demand converge. 

• Foggy forecast: Conflicting signals from GDP and labor market reports have economists, including former White House adviser Jason Furman, unsure whether the U.S. is heading for a recession or riding a boom. 

• Ball drop destination: Jamestown unveiled a $550M revamp of One Times Square, transforming the historic New Year’s Eve tower into a year-round tourist destination.

• Rent control: Los Angeles enacted its first rent-control overhaul in 40 years, capping hikes at 4% to curb housing costs.  

• British buy-in: UK-based Legal & General continues its U.S. multifamily push with a $97M acquisition in suburban Denver, marking its fourth major apartment purchase in a year.

• Bankruptcy buyout: Summit Properties agrees to acquire 5,000 distressed, rent-stabilized NYC apartments for $451M in a court-driven sale.  

• District debut: CEDARst Cos. broke ground on an $82M multifamily project in the Las Vegas Medical District, marking the first residential development in the neighborhood.

• Warehouse woes: U.S. industrial construction starts plummeted 62% YoY in November, as a once-hot sector cools rapidly under rising costs, tight financing, and cautious developer sentiment. 

• Tech takeover: SoftBank will acquire data center investor DigitalBridge for $4B in cash, doubling down on AI infrastructure as global tech giants pour hundreds of billions into data center development. 

• Queens claim: Terreno Realty has leased its revamped 48K SF Long Island City industrial site—formerly owned by UPS—to a rigging contractor.  

• Postal property: Westfield and RGA sold a 450K SF USPS-leased warehouse in Avondale, AZ, for $89.8M, as Phoenix industrial investment remains red-hot.

• Borrowed time: Consumers are still spending, but credit reliance, weak confidence, and rising costs suggest the momentum may not last.

• Deal collapse: The $947M sale of 117 JCPenney stores to Onyx Partners has collapsed after a missed deadline, triggering a legal battle and forcing Copper Property Trust to restart its liquidation process. 

• Snack attack: Japanese snack chain Onigilly is plotting a major U.S. mall expansion, betting its 300 SF Onigiri kiosks can win over American shoppers. 

• Untapped potential: Gen X, though under-marketed, leads in per-trip and luxury retail spending, offering untapped short-term potential for retailers.

• Billionaire buyers: Amancio Ortega’s $274M cash purchase of a Brickell tower led South Florida’s 2025 office deals in a year defined by distress, discounts, and debt-free buyers.  

• Growth spurt: AI firms drove a 2025 office rebound, with major leases fueling demand and reviving markets like San Francisco. 

• Suburban steal: Tryperion Holdings snagged the well-leased Mid America Plaza near Chicago for $59M, nearly 25% below its 2016 sale price.

• Deal detour: The 2025 U.S. hotel transaction market fell short of early optimism, as pricing gaps and economic uncertainty slowed activity. 

• Market mismatch: The 2025 U.S. hotel deal market stumbled midyear due to tariffs and slow Fed cuts but rebounded as buyer-seller price gaps narrowed, liquidity returned, and investors like Gencom closed big-ticket transactions.

• Resort rejected: A long-contested 100-acre waterfront site in Aquebogue, once eyed for a 500-room resort, is now permanently protected after New York State secured an $11M conservation easement to block future development.

📈 CHART OF THE DAY

CRE Trivia (Answer)🧠

The uninhabited U.S. territories of Baker Island and Howland Island are the last places to ring in the New Year due to their location near the International Date Line.