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Publicly traded real-estate investors in the U.S. enjoyed a record-breaking year for mergers in 2021, but the war in Ukraine and soaring inflation threaten to slow that deal making in the second half of the year, the Wall Street Journal reported. Real-estate investment trust mergers and acquisitions as well as stock mergers totaled $140 billion last year, an all-time high, according to Jones Lang LaSalle, a professional services company specializing in commercial real estate. Activity was powered by pent-up demand and real estate’s strong performance across most sectors, said Sheheryar Hafeez, managing director for capital markets at JLL. Larger deals helped drive the big overall volume number last year, with the average transaction size reaching $7 billion in 2021, compared with the average deal size of $3.6 billion over the prior decade, according to JLL. In one larger-than-average transaction, Vici Properties Inc. agreed to buy MGM Growth Properties in a $17.2 billion deal, including debt. Blackstone Inc. and Starwood Capital Group acquired hotel owner and operator Extended Stay America Inc. for $6 billion, the biggest lodging transaction last year.

A Los Angeles mega-mansion that was the biggest U.S. home to ever go up for auction sold for $141 million, including commissions, when bidding closed yesterday, Bloomberg News reported. The 21-bedroom, 49-bath hilltop estate — dubbed “The One” — had a list price of $295 million. Developer Nile Niami said in 2015 that he would ask $500 million for the Bel Air property, which also has five swimming pools and a 30-car garage. The highest offer was $126 million, according to a spokesperson for Concierge Auctions, which ran the sale. A 12% commission for the auction house boosted the total price to $141 million — more than double the previous record for a U.S. home auction, the company said in a statement. Other auctions of luxury properties have fallen short of asking prices. The Villa Firenze in Beverly Hills, California, fetched $51 million last year after Concierge Auctions conducted a sale with a $160 million asking price. The sale requires approval by a bankruptcy court judge, with a closing scheduled by March 21, according to a court filing.

Seritage Growth Properties, a real estate investment trust that emerged from the Sears bankruptcy, is exploring strategic alternatives including a sale of the company, Bloomberg News reported. New York-based Seritage, which owns property from Alaska to Florida, is working with the investment bank Barclays Plc on the plans. Seritage is open to a full sale of the company or piecemeal disposal of assets. The plans aren’t final and the company could still decide to change course. A representative for Seritage declined to comment while a representative for Barclays couldn’t be reached for comment. Prospective buyers could include private equity firms, real estate companies and former Sears Chief Executive Officer Eddie Lampert, who currently serves as chairman of Seritage, the people added. Lampert owns a 22.1% interest in the company and owns about 9.3% of the Class A shares, according to a filing last November. A representative for Lampert didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

More than 80% of the billions of dollars in federal rental assistance aimed at keeping families in their homes during the pandemic went to low-income tenants, the Treasury Department said yesterday, the Associated Press reported. It also concluded that the largest percentage of tenants receiving pandemic aid were Black followed by households. In the fourth quarter of 2021, Treasury found that more than 40% of tenants getting help were Black and two-thirds of recipients were female-headed households. The data was consistent with what Treasury saw throughout the year. According to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, those most likely to face eviction are low-income women, especially women of color. Domestic violence victims and families with children are also at high risk for eviction. Lawmakers approved $46.5 billion in Emergency Rental Assistance last year. After early challenges getting the funds out, the pace of distribution has picked up significantly in recent months. Throughout 2021, over $25 billion has been spent and obligated. That represents 3.8 million payments to households, Treasury said Thursday.

The owner of an oceanfront mansion in Montauk, N.Y., sought bankruptcy protection to stop the foreclosure auction of the property, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Renowned antique frame dealer Eli Wilner’s Montauk Cliffs LLC filed for chapter 11 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Brooklyn on Wednesday. Montauk Cliffs owns the 7,000-square-foot residence built on a 35.7-acre lot. The property on the eastern end of Long Island was being foreclosed by New Jersey-based lender Case Real Estate Capital LLC upon default of a $17.75 million mortgage in 2018 and was set to be sold in a foreclosure auction Thursday afternoon. Bankruptcy filings trigger an automatic stay by the court, halting all actions against the debtor’s property. “It’s our intention to market and sell the property in an orderly fashion to maximize value to all creditors,” Matthew Roseman, an attorney representing Montauk Cliffs, said Thursday. “We believe that there is substantial equity in the property.” The five-bedroom, five-bath residence has been on and off the market since 2015, initially asking for $55 million, according to Realtor.com. The price dropped to as low as $29 million in 2018 and has been listed for $39.5 million since September.

Since its groundbreaking nearly two decades ago, the megamall built in New Jersey’s Meadowlands has done little except hemorrhage cash. Now, less than two years after its much-delayed opening, the complex known as American Dream is threatening to dash the lofty ambitions of yet another developer, Bloomberg News reported. The Ghermezian family, which runs some of the biggest and most successful malls in North America, can’t keep up with the bills on the shopping and entertainment megaplex, which helped drive its original developer to the brink of bankruptcy and later was seized by lenders from the team that came next. Revenue from the stores has been so scarce amid the surging pandemic that the Ghermezians have hired legal and financial advisers to help them ease the crushing $3 billion debt load, and perhaps retain some role in running the project. The family members aren’t the only ones who stand to lose big money. Lenders including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Soros Fund Management and Starwood Property Trust Inc. could face losses on $1.7 billion in construction loans. About $1.1 billion of municipal debt is also backing the project.

Home prices soared almost 19 percent higher in 2021 as a severe lack of supply and low borrowing costs poured fuel on housing costs, according to data released yesterday, The Hill reported. The S&P CoreLogic Case Shiller housing price index, a closely watched gauge of home prices, rose 18.8 percent annually in December 2021, tracking the highest calendar-year increase in 34 years. The index rose 1.3 percent in December after seasonal adjustments, with prices rising in all 20 metro areas covered by S&P. Home prices have risen rapidly since spring 2020, when pandemic-driven stimulus, lockdowns and interest rate cuts spurred a sharp increase in home sales. The intense demand drove prices higher as buyers competed for a limited supply of houses and builders were unable to keep up amid pandemic restrictions. While home sales fell off in 2021, housing prices steamed ahead with buyers competing for dwindling inventory. Supply chain disruptions, shipping delays and other pandemic-related snarls have also hindered builders from filling the shortfall.

Health care providers are increasingly choosing former stores for their offices and clinics, in a trend known as medtail — a reflection of the medical industry’s migration to retail properties, the New York Times reported. The pandemic has accelerated their embrace of retail space. Taking advantage of depressed rents, medical providers are opening facilities in storefronts on city streets and moving into malls and shopping centers in suburban and rural areas, sometimes occupying the hulking shells vacated by big-box and department stores. In the past, landlords might not have welcomed such tenants — some just didn’t want sick people around their properties, experts say — but they are increasingly seeking them out to fill vacancies and help generate foot traffic that may benefit the other occupants. This has been especially true for health care providers that brand themselves as so-called wellness companies, adopting the look and feel of consumer-oriented retailers.