Editors’ Weekly News Roundup December 1 – December 5
Mixed signals from the iterations of the U.S. Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR)—the two-year and 10-year SOFR—were of the greatest interest to Connect CRE readers over the past week and the shortened Thanksgiving holiday week. Published as part of the “Treasury & Rates” series jointly presented by Connect Money and Connect CRE, Bond Market’s “Soft Landing” Trade Looks Stretched as Long-End Yields Defy Inflation Math was the most-read content on the website during that time period.
The column by Connect Money’s Joe Palmisano pointed to the narrower-than-usual spread between the two-year and 10-year rates and considered its implications. “In short, the 10-year SOFR’s subdued yield reflects overconfidence in the Fed’s easing trajectory and underappreciation of long-term inflation and fiscal risk,” Palmisano wrote.
Yields were also part of the conversation for the second most-read Connect CRE story between Nov. 24 and today. CRE Yields Likely to Edge Lower in 2026 as Deal Activity Broadens was based on the latest forecast by CoStar Group, which cited an increase in transaction volume and firming prices.
CoStar’s Chad Littell noted the varying degrees of progress for cap rates in different property sectors. While industrial and multifamily cap rates have compressed since last year, the rates have “largely moved sideways” for office and retail, although the upward pressure on yields is diminishing.
Although the work week leading up to Thanksgiving was shorter than usual, it packed a week’s worth of news into a few days. Connect CRE’s third most-read story was a breaking news report on a settlement in the U.S. Department of Justice’s “ongoing enforcement against algorithmic coordination, information sharing and other anticompetitive practices in rental housing markets across the country.”
With the headline RealPage, DOJ Settle Lawsuit Over Rental Pricing, the story summed up the terms of that settlement. Among other things, the settlement obligates RealPage to cooperate in DOJ’s lawsuit against property management companies that have used its software.
Although four of the five most-read stories before and after the Thanksgiving holiday were national in scope, one regional story appeared in the rankings. That was the fourth most-read story, NY State Approves Plan to Redevelop Long-Vacant Creedmoor Campus.
The long-vacant campus in question is the state-owned Creedmoor Psychiatric Hospital in the New York City borough of Queens. Current plans call for a large swath of the campus to be converted to rental apartments, including nearly 1,000 affordable units.
In fifth place was another story involving government, this time as a client. Amazon Pledges $50B Data Center Investment for U.S. Government Customers reported that the retailing giant intends to add nearly 1.3 gigawatts of AI and supercomputing capacity by building data centers with advanced compute and networking technologies.
The initiative for federal agencies served by Amazon Web Services will encompass U.S. government functions ranging from national security to scientific research and innovation. “Our investment in purpose-built government AI and cloud infrastructure will fundamentally transform how federal agencies leverage supercomputing,” said AWS CEO Matt Garman. He added that it “further positions America to lead in the AI era.”