A report from the Real Deal. "Quarters’ U.S. expansion appears to have ended in bankruptcy. Eight properties and two additional limited liability companies tied to the German co-living firm filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Friday, according to court records. Under Chapter 7 bankruptcy, companies cease operation and liquidate all eligible assets to repay creditors."

"Quarters, which is the co-living brand of Berlin-based Medici Living Group, raised $300 million for its push into the U.S. in early 2019. That came on the heels of raising $1.4 billion to expand in Europe. Founded in 2012, the company pitched itself as 'the WeWork of co-living' and the largest global operator of the shared living concept, which rents furnished rooms in shared apartments to tenants."

"The eight Quarters properties owned by LLCs that filed for bankruptcy are located in New York City, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Chicago. Combined, the 10 LLCs estimate between $1 million and $5 million in liabilities and less than $500,000 in assets, according to the Chapter 7 filings."

The Real Deal on New York. "A former HFZ executive and 11 alleged members of the Gambino crime family pleaded guilty last week in connection to a construction bribery scheme that skimmed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the developer’s luxury condo tower and other projects. John Simonlacaj, HFZ’s former managing director of development, admitted to submitting a false tax return in relation to renovation work at his home. Simonlacaj was accused of accepting free labor and materials for the renovations from CWC Contracting, a carpentry subcontractor that worked on the XI, HFZ’s $2 billion luxury condo and hotel towers along Manhattan’s High Line."

"The guilty pleas come as HFZ confronts a series of other legal and financial challenges. The Children’s Investment Fund, a London-based hedge fund that provided a $1.25 billion loan for the XI, claims that the developer is behind on its interest payments and is seeking $160 million. The hedge fund’s lawsuit could be a precursor to foreclosure proceedings. Zeckendorf Development and Suffolk Construction are reportedly in talks to take over the XI, though HFZ denies that this is the case. And last month, HFZ lost its equity stake in an industrial portfolio through a UCC foreclosure auction."

From Bisnow South Florida. "A new law intended to unmask the owners of limited liability corporations in an attempt to crack down on money launderers and slumlords could particularly impact Miami and New York, where shell companies are often used to obscure the owners of high-priced real estate. In Miami after the Great Recession, millions of dollars worth of Miami condos were being purchased through LLCs in all-cash transactions. At one point, corporate entities bought an average of $111M worth of homes per week with cash in Miami-Dade, the Miami Herald reported."

From WMGD in Maryland. "A former member of the Board of Directors at Hebron Savings Bank who also owned a local business and taught economics and finance at Salisbury University has pled guilty to making a false statement on a loan or credit application. The U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland said Thursday that 57-year-old Brian Thomas Twilley faces a maximum sentence of 30 years, but actual sentences in these cases are often less than the maximum. He also will be required to pay restitution of more than $163-thousand."

"Prosecutors say Twilley, who now lives in Virginia, is accused of providing false statements on several occasions. According to his guilty plea, from April 2010 through March 2017, Twilley provided false personal financial statements to Hebron that omitted from his net worth a $200,000 Home Equity Line of Credit due to Bank 2 that should have been paid off and closed with the proceeds of a separate HELOC that Twilley had obtained from Hebron. Twilley also provided false personal financial statements to Bank 3."

From Bisnow Washington DC. "MakeOffices, a homegrown D.C. coworking provider with nine locations in the region, is closing down. MakeOffices Chief Operating Officer Josh White told Bisnow Wednesday the company was forced to shutter because of the financial difficulties the pandemic has created for the coworking industry and the business world at large. The coworking provider also has locations in Rosslyn, Reston, Tysons, Bethesda, Dupont Circle and K Street, and it expanded to Philadelphia and Chicago with three locations in each city."

"MakeOffices was founded as UberOffices by Raymond Rahbar in 2011. Two of the company's investors, MRP Realty and former EagleBank CEO Ron Paul, ousted Rahbar in August 2016. Rahbar now says that he has been working with federal investigators on a matter involving Paul, who retired from EagleBank in March 2019. 'I recently became aware that others destroyed something I had worked hard to create with so many others,' Rahbar said in a statement to Bisnow. 'That being said, MakeOffices' closure does not change our efforts in working with the FBI and Federal Reserve to ensure that Ron Paul and friends are held accountable for their criminal extortion. Not wanting to affect the criminal cases or grand jury deliberations, I'll have more to say when Ron Paul is in federal prison.'"

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. "San Jose housing rental prices in December were down 13.7% year over year, the nation’s sharpest decline, according to a new report, and San Francisco wasn’t far behind. Rents were down 13.7% in San Jose, New York followed with an 11.7% drop, and San Francisco had the third-biggest decline, 9.4%. San Jose has been at the bottom of the growth list seven consecutive months, with rents down 14.1% since March."

"The Yardi Matrix report attributes the exodus from big cities to job losses around tourist-centric industries. 'As gateway markets are some of the most expensive to live in, and with job losses disproportionately impacting service workers, it became impossible for many to pay rent, so the only choice was to move,' the report said. 'With most amenities in these urban areas closed, the desirability of living in an urban setting and paying high rents has been lost.'"

"Zumper’s latest national rent report put San Francisco first on the list for year-over-year declines for one-bedrooms in the country’s most expensive and largest rental markets, falling 24%. Oakland was second (22%), followed by Seattle (20.6%), New York (19.7%), Boston (17%) and San Jose (14.7%). Santa Clara’s rental prices also dropped 24% year over year, and Menlo Park and Mountain View were close behind at 23.4% and 23.8%, respectively."

From Now Toronto in Canada. "The vacancy rate for apartment buildings in Toronto has hit a 50-year high. According to an Urbanation survey of purpose-built rental apartments built since 2005 found the vacancy rate was 5.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020. During the same period a year prior, the vacancy rate was 1.1 per cent. Seven new purpose-built rental apartment buildings were completed in the GTA during 2020, equalling 1,699 additional units. By the end of the year, the new buildings were occupied at an average of 44 per cent."

From CBC News in Canada. "This time last year, CMHC reported that Toronto vacancy rates had been below two per cent since 2011, with 'existing renters remaining in their rental properties, likely influenced by the fact that recently the average asking rents charged for vacant units are about 25 per cent higher compared to that of occupied units.'"

From New Civil Engineer in the UK. "London’s 2012 Olympic Park is at risk of becoming a 'derelict, costly disaster' as operating the London Stadium continues to haemorrhage money and the construction cost of the East Bank housing scheme soars. The report concludes: 'Many former Olympic parks across the world have turned into derelict, costly disasters. London 2012 was meant to be different, and this was a lynchpin of the original bid that beat Paris to the trophy of staging the Games. There is now a real threat that the very issue that was meant to be different this time around will be repeated, and that the capital will be bearing the legacy of a costly, taxpayer-funded albatross, hanging around the neck of Londoners for decades to come.'"

From Prague Morning. "The Covid-19 pandemic measures have forced a big decline in rent prices in Prague. This is due to a few factors, namely because of a lack of tourism, and an absence of university students. In pre-lockdown times, thousands of university students were usually expected at the end of summer to come looking for accommodation, but distance-learning has been obliged by governments globally, eradicating the need for students to show up physically."

"A significant decrease has been documented since August 2020, substantially peaking around that time when it was clear that universities were not going to be open again, and that learning would stay online. Rent prices have been decreasing since then, affecting all parts of Prague. Petr Hlaváček, Prague Deputy Mayor and responsible for territorial development, said that 'not all of the apartments for short-term rentals are adapted for standard use.'"

"Generally, there are more flats available for long-term rental now, with a documented 97.7% increase (14,738 in comparison to 7,453 in 2019), at the end of the second quarter of 2020. This is an unprecedented number of available long-term flats in the last four years."

From Domain News in Australia. "In June, just before Melbourne re-entered lockdown, Harshada Shirodkar and her husband moved apartments. But they didn’t move far. With vacancy rates in the inner city rising steadily, they noticed an increasing number of apartments becoming available in their South Melbourne apartment building. 'We had been in our apartment for two years, so we just started looking at the listings and noticed there were a lot of apartments available and also that they were cheaper than what we were paying,' the IT professional said."

"Ms Shirodkar and her husband are among many inner-city residents who have taken advantage of falling rents since March. Melbourne CBD rental prices plummeted 27.3 per cent in the year to December, with the median unit rent dropping to $400 per week – the largest fall of any Melbourne suburb – the Domain Rent Report shows."

"Landlords have been slashing rents to in order to fill city apartments, some of which have sat empty for months. Dionne Wilson, of Harcourts Melbourne City, said she recently leased an apartment in the CBD for $400 a week less than its previous asking price."

"'We had one apartment in Market Street which was rented out for $1000 per week. It then sat vacant from about February last year and we leased it just prior to Christmas for $600 per week,' she says. 'I would say that tenant got a pretty good deal. We’re seeing asking prices for apartments being reduced by as much as 20 to 35 per cent, depending on the building and the property itself.'"