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​​​​​​​HOUSTON – Equus Capital Partners Ltd. has purchased Park 845 Crossing, a five-building industrial park between I-45 and Beltway 8. 

The Class A property totals 757,325 sf across two cross-dock and three rear-load buildings, which were b​uilt from 2008 to 2014. The asset offers 18- to 30-ft clear heights and 186 dock doors.​

Park 825 Crossing is now 62.5 percent leased to 11 tenants.​

JLL Capital Markets represented the seller, a partnership of IDI Logistics and Heitman, as well as the buyer. The team also arranged $55 million in financing. 

Get more Houston-area office news on the Texas Real Estate Research Center's website:

• Local office news​​
• ​​​​​Texas Quarterly Commercial Report

​Source: JLL

​​​​HOUSTON – As the majority of large companies report plans to make cutbacks, CBRE expects the office sector to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2025.

Nationally, the number of companies planning t​o significantly reduce their office footprint decreased from 39 percent to 9 percent. Those who plan to make modest reductions, however, rose from 45 percent to 72 percent.

​The CBRE forecast also found companies will use 9 percent less office space per worker, and employees will spend only 3.2 days per week in the office.

The Texas Real Estate Research Center has news like this online for free:

• ​Texas Quarterly Commercial Report
• Texas office news​

​​​SAN ANTONIO – A partnership between Chicago-based Pearlmark and Austin-based Old Three Hundred Capital LLC has purchased two adjacent multifamily properties totaling 560 units. 

Park West at 11845 West A​ve. has studio and one- and two-bedroom units and amenities such as a pool, fitness center, volleyball court, playground, and dog park. 

Parliament Bend  at 11838 Parliament St. offers one- and two-bedroom units as well as fitness and business centers, outdoor grilling and picnic areas, a dog park, and onsite laundry facilities.

The new ownership will implement a value-add program.

The Texas Real Estate Research Center has more news like this online for free:

​​FRISCO – An office campus is underway near the northwest corner of the Dallas North Tollway and SH 121.

Called the Enclave, the 11-acre project will have at least six one- and two-story buildings totaling 120,000 sf along a wooded creek that runs along the north side of the​ site.

Amenities include pedestrian bridges, seating and game courts, and walking trails.

Corgan designed the site plan. Fults Commercial Real Estate is handling marketing.

The Texas Real Estate Research​ Center has more on DFW real estate news:

• Local office news
• ​​Texas Quarterly Commercial Report

​​​​​​BASTROP – The city council unanimously approved a development agreement and concept plan for Bastrop 552, a​ 546-acre private entertainment hub and film studio.

​​The project will have 286 acres of film studio facilities and 40 acres of lodging and associated amenities. The final 220 acres will have restaurants, event space, golf course, a working dude ranch, campground, clubhouse, parks, and greenbelt areas. 

Developer California-based Line 204 Studios had updated its plans to quell concerns about the development bringing noise, light pollution, and traffic to the city or negatively impacting wildlife. ​

The project will be developed in phases and create more than 1,400 jobs over several years, including 700 construction jobs. It will generate a $2 billion economic impact over ten years.

Get more Austin-area news on the Texas Real Estate Research Center's website:

• Area​​ hotel news​
• Texas Quarterly Apartment Report
• ​Austin multifamily news
• ​Texas Quarterly Commercial Report
• Austin-area office news​
• Local retail space

​​​Source: ​Austin Business Journal

​​​​HORSESHOE BAY – Horseshoe Bay Resort is getting a new luxury condominium project called Waters Lakeside. 

The three-building project​ will have 60 condominiums with three-bedroom floor plans. 

The first building will deliver in spring 2022 with the others following that summer.

Horseshoe Bay Resort​ recently underwent a $100 million-plus renovation. 

Get more Texas hotel news​ on the Real Estate Center's website.

​DALLAS – An investment fund created by Crescent Real Estate has purchased the Ritz-Carlton.

The five-story, 218-room hotel on McKinney Ave. in Uptown opened in 2007. 

The buyer paid $700 million to a​cquire the landmark Crescent complex across the street in March. ​

The Texas Real Estate Research Center has more on DFW's retail market:

• ​​Texas Quarterly Commercial Report
• Local hotel news​

​​​​HOUSTON – Caldwell Cos. has sold its Asher Oaks apartment community.

Asher Oaks, renamed Savannah Oaks, is an 18-acre, 330-unit community ​at 21000​ Gosling Rd. It includes an amenity center, jogging trails, and a two-acre lake.

The property was valued at $38.5 million.

The Texas Real Estate Research Center​​​​ has more information like this online for free:

• ​​​​Texas Quarterly Apartment Report​​
• Houston multifamily news online

​Source: ​Houston Business Journal​

​​CORPUS CHRISTI – The housing market has been heating up for the past few months and is only getting hotter.

According to the Corpus Christi Association of Realtors, local housing prices ha​ve risen 11 percent from 2015 to 2019 and an additional 20 percent from 2019 to 2021. 

New construction has become increasingly expensive, with less than 10 percent of new homes being affordable.

According to data from the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University, 1,529 homes were sold in the area in first quarter 2021, with 667 sales in March—a 16.7 percent increase from March 2020.​

Get more Corpus Christi real estate news on the Texas Real Estate Research Center's website:

• Corpus Christi real estate news
• Texas Housing Insight
• Corpus Christi housing reports​
• Local housing activity data

​Source: Corpus Christi Caller-Times​

​​​​DALLAS – Quiet 3PF has opened a 500,000-sf e-commerce distribution center at 10750 Denton Dr., north of Love Field and east of Stemmons ​Fwy.

The fulfillment center will employ more than 400 workers who will process over 22 million orders a year.

Quiet 3PF was acquired by Greenfield Partners LLC and Related Fund Management in 2018.

The Texas Real Estate Research Center has more on DFW's industrial market:

• ​​Texas Quarterly Commercial Report
• ​Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington industrial news​

​CEDAR CREEK – Redwood City, Calif.-based Ohana Real Estate Investors has purchased the 491-room Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort & Spa at 575 Hyatt Lost Pines Rd. 

The seller, an affiliate of Hyatt Hotel​s Corp., purchased the asset for $275 million.  

The 650-acre property ha​s more than 36,000 sf of indoor meeting space and 276,000 sf of outdoor amenity space that includes a golf course, water park, amphitheater, and equestrian facility. 

The asset adjoins the 1,100-acre McKinney Roughs Nature Park. 

Get more Austin hotel news​​ on the Texas Real Estate Research Center's website.

​​COLLEGE STATION – Texas' existing-home sales increased 2.5 percent month over month (MOM) to 29,000 transactions in May but remained more than 2,000 sales below peak levels reached at the start of the year.

The average home stayed on the market for just one month, a record-low duration since the series started in 1997.

"​Mortgage rates are still hovering around 3 percent, and ongoing demographic trends continue to support housing demand," said Dr. Luis Torres, research economist for the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University. 

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), national existing-home sales fell for the fourth straight month in April. Despite the 1.2 percent MOM decline, activity exceeded pre-pandemic levels and increased 46.2 percent from the pandemic's trough last May.

"Due to the fact that much of the pandemic's worst impacts registered in April and May 2020, standard year-over-year (YOY) calculations should be taken with a grain of salt," cautioned Torres. "For example, Texas resale transactions skyrocketed more than 50 percent YOY in May but rose 14.7 percent relative to May 2019 levels."

Compared with two years ago, existing-home sales elevated just 8.1 percent nationally.

Along with a monthly pickup in sales, a 3.1 percent decrease in new listings during May pulled Texas' months of inventory to 1.1 months in the state's existing-home market.

"The extremely low level of supply available is holding back sales," said Torres. "The limited inventory for homes priced less than $300,000 is particularly distressing and is stressing home affordability."

Texas' median existing home sales price accelerated 27.8 percent YOY to $289,900. NAR reported an annual increase of 21.5 percent to $306,000 in the national metric.

Torres, however, said that a shift in the composition of sales toward higher-priced homes due to limited inventory at the bottom price cohorts explains some of the increase in the median sales price.

"Our Texas Repeat Sales Home Price Index accounts for this compositional bias and indicates annual home-price appreciation was closer to 15 percent in May. Although less extreme than the median price metric suggests, the rise in real home prices is still impairing housing affordability within Texas."

Read more about the Real Estate Research Center's predictions of economic activity.

The Texas Real Estate Research Center has more housing news online for free​​:

• Texas housing news
• Texas Housing Insight
• Home Price Index

​​​​​RICHMOND – Houston-based ​​Johnson Development has purchased 630 acres​​ adjacent to its 1,300-acre Harvest Green master-planned community.

The land is slated for 1,400 homes with sit​es range from 40 to 75 ft wide. New community amenities, including parks, trails, and a pool, will ​also be on the ​plot.

Homesites at the new Harvest Green​​ section will be available for sale starting fall 2022.​​ 

Current builders in the original portion of the development​ include Coventry Homes, David Weekley Homes, and Perry Homes. Prices start in the low $300,000s, and sales began in fall 2015. 

The Texas Real Estate Research Center has more information on housing:​

​​​​​HOUSTON – Just a few months after buying 1111 Fannin Street, Triten Real Estate Partner has sold it to Harris County.​

Triten purchased the 17-story, 428,629 sf office tower in downtown in December 2020, when it was fully leased to JPMorgan Chase. 

The financial giant will relocate to the JPMorgan Chase & Co. Tower.

The property was valued at $44.6 million as of January 1. 

Get more Houston-area office news on the Texas Real Estate Research Center's website:

• Local office news​​
• ​​​​​Texas Quarterly Commercial Report

​Source: Houston Business Journal

​​FORNEY – A partnership between Gault Co. and RTG Capital LLC has purchased the Forney Industrial Park, a 50-acre industrial project on US 80.

The property includes 32 buildings totaling 311,000 sf.

The new ownership is planning upgrades. 

Marcus & Millichap handled marketing.  

The Texas Real Estate Research Center has more on DFW's industrial market:

• ​​Texas Quarterly Commercial Report
• ​Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington industrial news​

​​​DALLAS – Malibu Indu​strial LP, a company owned by Crow Holdings Industrial, has acquired the SpeedZone racetrack and entertainment center with plans for an industrial project.

Located on 20 acres on ​Stemmons Fwy. near Royal Ln., the facility closed last year.

The seller was a California-based company. 

The Texas Real Estate Research Center has more on DFW's industrial market:

• ​​Texas Quarterly Commercial Report
• ​Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington industrial news​

​​​​​​​​​​​AUSTIN ​– Texas added 34,400 nonagricultural jobs in May, marking gains in 12 of the last 13 months, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. That's a 0.3 percent monthly gain.

Since May 2020, the Texas economy has added a total of 804,200 jobs. To return to pre-pandemic levels, the economy needs to add 409,000 positions.

May's seasonally adjusted ​unemployment rate was 6.5 percent, down 0.2 percent from April 2021 and higher than the nation's rate of 5.8 percent.

"Anecdotal evidence from service sector businesses​ points toward the lack of available applicants and generous unemployment benefits as major impediments in rehiring workers," said Dr. Luis Torres, research economist at the Texas Real Estate Research Center. 

To eliminate the incentive of remaining unemployed, Texas will opt out of further federal unemployment compensation related to the COVID-19 pandemic effective June 26, 2021. The measure would reduce minimum unemployment payments from $19,240 a year to $3,640 a year.​

Amarillo had the lowest nonse​asonally adjusted unemployment rate in the state​ at 3.9 percent. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission had the highest at 9.7 percent. 

All employment sectors had seasonally adjusted job gains since May 2020 except mining and logging, which saw employment fall 1.2 percent. The leisure and hospitality sector's employment jumped 26.4 percent over the year. ​

​​AUSTIN – Virginia-based ILM Capital LLC has sold Rio West, a 384-bed student housing community near the University of Texas at Austin.

The property offers a private parking garage, onsite management and maintenance services, coffee bar, private study lounges, a resort-style pool with an outdoor patio and grilling stations, and 24/7 fitness center. 

Newmark represented the seller.

The Texas Real Estate Research Center has more news like this online for free:

​​​CHICAGO – National housing affordability declined in April 2021 compared with a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors' Housing Affordability Index. 

Since April 2020, the median family income declined by 1 percent while the monthly mortgage payment increased by 16.1 percent. The median existing-home sales price rose by 20 percent from June 2020.

​Housing affordability declined from 2020 in all four U.S. regions. In the South, the region that includes Texas, affordability declined by 12.2 percent. 

The lack of home supplies has caused the increase in home prices, straining affordability and first-time homebuyers. ​

The Texas Real Estate Research Center has more housing news online for free​​:

• Texas housing news
• Texas Housing Insight
• Home Price Index

​​​​HOCKLEY – Land Tejas is developing Cypress Green, a 646-acre, 2,300-home community between SH​ 290 and SH 249, northwest of the Grand Parkway.

Homesites will range from 40- to 55-ft-wide.  

Land Tejas purchased the property from McAlister Opportunity Funds. 

The company has two other Houston-area communities: Sunterra in Katy and Marvida in Cypress.

The Texas Real Estate Research Center has more information on housing:​