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A whirlwind March 23 bankruptcy court hearing concluded with embattled Austin real estate investor Nate Paul losing control of five legal entities — each of which controls valuable real estate — to a chapter 11 trustee, the Austin Business Journal reported. Another three entities were placed under the control of a chief restructuring officer who will help shepherd them through bankruptcy. In total, eight entities were placed under some level of independent stewardship — with one overarching goal: "I don't want Mr. Paul to have control of the cash, period," said U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Tony Davis. Paul and his firm World Class, which describes itself on its website as a "multi-billion dollar holding company" for real estate, have faced a series of lawsuits, bankruptcies and foreclosures in the wake of a 2019 raid of its Austin headquarters by federal investigators. Though no charges have yet resulted from the raid, the company's "business reputation was severely damaged, and their business affairs were severely compromised," Paul alleged in a lawsuit filed against the FBI in October. The latest court actions were partially in response to a series of unexplained transfers out of company bank accounts. Casey Roy, a representatives from the U.S. Trustee's office, argued in at least one instance in favor of converting the case into a chapter 7 bankruptcy, which typically results in a liquidation of assets. Regarding a shell company called WC Met Center LLC, which owns roughly 48.5 acres in Southeast Austin most recently valued for tax purposes at more than $68 million, Roy said recent transfers appeared to show about $800,000 being moved out of the LLC to World Class Holdings. WC Met Center is one of the entities now under the control of a chapter 11 trustee.

Jekyll & Hyde Club, a New York restaurant popular with tourists for its horror-themed food and shows, filed for bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. The kitschy eatery located in Greenwich Village owes creditors less than $7.5 million, including $1.5 million in back rent, according to papers filed in bankruptcy court in Manhattan. Actors put on shows during dinner and each floor of the restaurant focuses on a different aspect of a fictional, 1930s British explorers club, from science fiction to the Gothic horror of its namesake characters, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Club owner Deacon Brody Management Inc. elected to file under subchapter V of chapter 11 bankruptcy that is designed for small businesses to quickly rearrange debt without the usual expenses associated with bigger corporate reorganization cases, according to court papers.

Lawmakers across the U.S. are looking to enact rent control, reviving measures largely shunned in recent years in an effort to curb the surge in home rental prices throughout the country, the Wall Street Journal reported. These proposals, which would generally allow landlords to boost monthly rents by no more than 2% to 10%, are on the legislative agenda in more than a dozen states. Rental prices are up about 18% on average over the past two years, according to real-estate broker Redfin Corp., hitting record levels across the U.S. Large cities like Boston, affluent suburbs like Montclair, N.J., lower-income mobile-home communities in Colorado and fast-growing metros in Florida are among the places now considering rent control. “Rents are exploding at a pace far faster than income,” said Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, an economist and professor at Columbia Business School who researches rent control. “The problem is now as bad as it has ever been. And probably much worse.” Rising rents are a big contributor to the recent surge in inflation that is starting to weigh on the U.S. economy. Cost of shelter accounts for 40% of the core Consumer Price Index, CPI’s biggest component. Economists at the San Francisco Federal Reserve said in a February inflation forecast that rent increases “point to significant upside risks to the overall inflation outlook.”

House Democrats yesterday blamed corporate greed, market concentration and Wall Street investor pressure for contributing to rising prices during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on inflation, The Hill reported. The committee’s Democrats and Republicans traded blame over the root causes of the worst inflation the U.S. has seen in four decades as the price of gas, food, housing, cars and common household goods has skyrocketed. “Right now, we’re seeing big corporations take advantage of economic conditions and a lack of real competition to pass higher prices onto consumers simply because they can,” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the committee’s chairwoman. Several Democrats and committee witnesses cited the highest corporate profit margins in 70 years and earnings calls where executives said customers were more willing to accept price hikes due to the current inflationary environment. They referred to January remarks from a Constellation Brands executive who told investors that the company wants to "make sure that we're not leaving any pricing on the table. We want to take as much as we can." They quoted a Proctor and Gamble executive who said that the company sees "a lower reaction from the consumer in terms of price elasticity than what we would have seen in the past."

Single-family landlords are going upscale as they bet that more high-earning households will stay in the rental market, Bloomberg News reported. Invitation Homes Inc., the largest U.S. rental house owner, recently formed a $300 million joint venture that is targeting homes that will rent for 30% to 60% higher than the properties it usually purchases. The average rent on the company’s 82,000 homes was about $2,000 at the end of 2021, meaning it could offer homes for between $2,600 and $3,200 a month. The partnership with Rockpoint Group will invest roughly $750 million, including debt, to buy and renovate single-family houses, according to a March 4 statement. If higher-end single-family rentals catch on, landlords may follow a path laid out by the multifamily industry a decade ago, when developers embraced luxury apartments for city-dwelling millennials. Now, those same renters are seeking larger spaces, and many of them either can’t afford to buy a home — at least not in the neighborhood that they’d like to live in — or still prefer the flexibility of leasing.

Online-mortgage lender Better is firing roughly 3,000 employees in the U.S. and India as rising interest rates weigh on the volume of new loans, Bloomberg News reported. The total represents about 35% of the company’s workforce. Better eliminated approximately 9% of its workforce last year, announcing the move in a video conference call. Chief Executive Officer Vishal Garg later apologized for how that round of cuts was handled, and took a hiatus before returning in January. This time, the company said it would contact all of the affected workers personally. All will be eligible for severance payments, and U.S. employees will receive extended medical benefits.