A weekend topic starting with the Review Journal in Nevada. "Landlord Mario Tafarella is owed more than $30,000 in rent from two of his Las Vegas rental properties in Desert Shores, and it’s money he never will receive. 'Thirty grand — take it out of your bank account. Would it have a financial impact on you?' Tafarella said, referring to eviction moratoriums implemented by Gov. Steve Sisolak and the federal government. 'If all of them (stop paying) it would drive us to bankruptcy.'"

"Las Vegas resident and landlord Bob Smith said his worst-case scenario would be foreclosing on his properties in Pahrump and Las Vegas. Smith had to tap into his savings when one tenant stopped paying rent last year after the eviction moratorium took effect. He’s lost more than $6,500 and had to requested a mortgage forebearance on the home. 'I used it on that house — I had to,' he said."

"Real estate broker Tom Blanchard said mom-and-pop landlords are those who purchase one or a handful of properties expecting some extra income, especially as a part of a retirement plan. 'They’re not the large corporate conglomerates that can handle taking a loss because they’re making money (on other investments),' said Blanchard, who last year served as president of trade association Las Vegas Realtors. Nevada could see a rise in foreclosures should smaller landlords fail to keep up with their multiple mortgage payments, according to Blanchard."

From KTNV in Nevada. "A report by the Nevada State Apartment Association noted that 'the percentage of properties offering concessions has increased significantly since the start of the pandemic. New apartment communities are feeling the pressure with nearly all new apartment communities offering concessions by the end of the second quarter. Concessions are highest in the beltway submarkets of Summerlin/Spring Valley, Henderson, and Enterprise/South Paradise. That’s no surprise given the high asking rents, abundance of high-end units, and hundreds more in the pipeline for delivery over the next several quarters.'"

From Community Impact in Texas. "It might have been a banner year for single-home sales in Houston, but 2020 was unkind to the much of the region's apartment market, especially its usually thriving Inner Loop. 'We're seeing a combination of a kind of urban flight and Houston's uncanny ability to deliver massive amounts of new inventory at the worst possible time,' said Bruce McClenny, president of ApartmentData. 'It's a pretty devastating drop.'"

"As of Dec. 31, rents had fallen by double-digit margins over the previous 12 months in three key markets: Downtown, Highland Village-Upper Kirby-West University, and Montrose-Museum District-Midtown. Those three markets also added over 3,300 new apartment units during the same time period, pushing occupancy rates down to around 84% or lower. There were over 12,000 unoccupied apartment units out of 79,000 in those five Inner Loop markets at the end of 2020, and roughly 7,700 more units are under construction."

"'I would hope that these operators in those areas—at some point, you can’t lower rents anymore. They just have to wait for people to show up,' McClenny said."

The Puget Sound Business Journal in Washington. "A Bellevue apartment property has sold for $279.1 million, according to the sales affidavit. Records show that the developer of Hyde Square, San Francisco-based Carmel Partners, sold the 618-unit project to DWS, a division of Deutsche Bank. It's a big number, but when you break it down it's not extraordinary."

"The multifamily rental market has slowed due to Covid-19, with most properties offering free rent to lure tenants. Hyde Square, which opened in phases between 2018 and 2019, is no different. It's offering between six and eight weeks' free rent, a leasing agent said, and the property how the website trumpets 'newly reduced rents.'"

From KATU in Oregon. "The coronavirus pandemic has caused rent prices to fluctuate in the Portland metro area. There are specific areas of town where rent prices have fallen somewhat dramatically. 'It’s going to be a limited slice of the renter pool, because not everybody can live there. But if you have the means right now, this is one of the best times you’re ever going to have a new, kind of modern luxury apartment in central Portland or downtown Portland,' said Basham."

The Real Deal on Illinois. "With occupancy rates at Downtown Chicago apartments falling sharply during the pandemic, the owner of one of the largest complexes in the city wants to sell. An investment fund has hired Newmark to market McClurg Court, a 1,061-unit rental development in Streeterville, Crain’s reported, citing Real Estate Alert. The massive complex was expected to trade for over $200 million — roughly $189,000 a unit — according to the report."

"The decision to sell comes at a time when the Chicago apartment market has taken a big hit. The third-quarter occupancy rate for Downtown rentals dipped to 87.1 percent from 93.8 percent in the third quarter of 2019. The latest number was the lowest figure in two decades, and has forced landlords to cut rents more than 20 percent year-over-year and offer more concessions."

From Bisnow Chicago. "The national office market is suspended in midair, and few landlords or tenants want to sign deals. Tenants will find themselves in a historically advantageous position and can look forward to securing leases that will greatly boost their bottom lines with months of free rent and funds to renovate new offices. 'It’s already happening,' Chicago-based Savills Vice Chairman Lisa Davidson said. 'But if I were a landlord, I wouldn’t want to be shouting about it.'"

"And it’s not just landlords of Class-A buildings that are willing to be generous if it means getting buildings filled. 'It’s not about the type of building,' Davidson said. 'It’s any building that has a significant amount of vacancy. And that list is growing every day.' Eighteen months of gross free rent is no longer out of the question, at least for owners looking to fill newly constructed space with top tenants willing to sign long-term leases."

"With millions of square feet of sublease space being added to markets around the U.S., including in New York, Chicago and Dallas, tenants may have an unprecedented ability to play landlords against one another, according to Joe Brady, CEO of the Americas at flexible workspace company The Instant Group. 'It has the potential to be a really ugly situation for landlords,' he said."

From Bisnow Los Angeles in California. "For now, the office market looks rough. Newmark’s Q4 office report found that vacancy increased to its highest point since 2013. Nearly 700K SF of office came online in the final quarter of 2020, 68% of which is leased, but tenants can’t occupy it yet. That accounts for part of the increase in vacancy in Q4, Newmark said, but not all of it. Current office utilization is averaging about 30% in Los Angeles, Newmark said."

The Davis Enterprise in California. "Negotiations surrounding an extension of the state’s eviction moratorium are approaching the do-or-die point with little more than a week left to find a solution for renters and landlords alike. Debra Carlton, the apartment association’s chief lobbyist, said half of the state’s landlords are small mom-and-pop outfits not eligible for federal Paycheck Protection Program loans. 'We’ve got to get money to landlords,' she said. 'We worry they are on the brink of foreclosure.'"

From KITV in Hawaii. "A new report forecast more than half of Hawaii's hotel rooms will remain empty this year. Kekoa McClellan works for the association in Hawaii. He believes more than 24,000 jobs in hotels will return this year but that's only 54% of all jobs available pre-pandemic. 'Take a restaurant at a hotel for example on hotel property. If I'm at 20% occupancy and my hotel has seven restaurants, there is not a need for probably more than a single restaurant,' McClellan said."

From Inside the Magic on Florida. "The Holiday Inn Orlando Suites – Water Park Hotel has filed for bankruptcy despite its extremely convenient 5 minute or less drive to Walt Disney World Property. This is not the first hotel we have seen file for bankruptcy amid the ongoing pandemic. We recently reported that three other Orlando hotels were auctioned off as they fell into bankruptcy and foreclosure as well."

The Globe and Mail. "Canadian pension funds are seeking to boost their real estate investments, betting the slumping property market will recover as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes and office workers and city dwellers return to downtown properties. As the pandemic forced many staff to work from home, the office vacancy rate in Canada hit a 16-year high of 13.4 per cent in 2020, according to CBRE. Downtown offices were hit harder."

"'I think pension funds are very well aware that…there are times when values dip a bit and vacancies go up but overall real estate assets are a great part of any pension fund portfolio,' said CBRE Canada vice-chairman Paul Morassutti."

"Grant McGlaughlin, partner at law firm Fasken, said he did not see any drastic moves on pension funds getting rid of their real estate portfolios. 'I think that’s the right thesis that there is no point selling into a low,' he said."

From Domain News in Australia. "Renters have made huge savings across a swathe of sought-after suburbs in inner Sydney, with median rents falling by hundreds of dollars a week in some top neighbourhoods. Median rents across 57 suburbs dropped by 10 per cent or more over the year to December, new figures show, with many of the largest percentage drops for units in the city centre and eastern suburbs."

"Millers Point recorded the biggest drop, with median weekly asking rent for units falling a whopping $305 — or 30.5 per cent — to $695 a week. The Sydney CBD and Pyrmont both recorded unit rents fall of $150 a week, or 20 per cent and 18.5 per cent respectively, while asking rents in Haymarket fell $140. 'Some property owners were accepting up to a 30 per cent drop in their rent,' said Kate Sommervelle, of Ayre Real Estate, about the city apartment market."