The Lede

Commercial Observer, Oct. 27, 2015--Balbi, Danielle Wells Fargo is taking the lead on roughly $2.5 billion in debt financing to Blackstone Group and Ivanhoe Cambridge for their joint purchase of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, two people familiar with the deal told Commercial Observer.

Wall Street Journal, Oct. 28, 2015--Wei, Lingling; Karmin, Craig At least three big Chinese companies are competing to win Beijing's approval to bid for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., according to people with knowledge of the discussions, setting the stage for what could be the largest-ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company.

Wall Street Journal, Oct. 26, 2015--Kusisto, Laura Sam Zell has agreed to sell more than 23,000 apartments controlled by his real-estate company, Equity Residential, for $5.4 billion to Starwood Capital Group, the companies said.

World Property Journal, Oct. 23, 2015 According to the Mortgage Bankers Association 2014 Report on Multifamily Lending, 2,876 different multifamily lenders that provided $195.1 billion in new mortgages for apartment buildings with five or more units.

Wall Street Journal, Oct. 27, 2015--Kusisto, Laura Brookfield Property Partners is making its first venture into Brooklyn, buying a majority stake in two planned apartment towers on the New York City borough's waterfront, the company said.

Huffington Post, Oct. 21, 2015--Susman, AronWhether you see the rapid growth of tech startups as a boom or a bubble, tech activity is higher than it's been since 2000 and has impacted the economies and landscapes of cities around the world. Here are four ways that tech companies are affecting NYC's real estate landscape.

Washington Post, Oct. 28, 2015--Kelly, John The CoStar Group's Field Operations Center directs 140 field researchers that spread out across North America noting every aspect of the real estate they encounter: the type of building, the size, the shape, whether there's a "For Lease" sign in a window.

Institutional-quality real estate returned 3.09 percent in the third quarter--1.22 percent income return and 1.86 percent capital appreciation return--comparable to its 3.14 percent second quarter return, said the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries' Property Index.

Greater Boston's office market closed its tenth straight quarter of growth, but at a much slower pace than the scorching second quarter, Transwestern reported.

Originations for commercial real estate loans under $5 million rebounded in the second quarter, reported Boxwood Means, Stamford, Conn.

Investors show significant interest in buying and building hotels as the sector continues to thrive, reported Lodging Econometrics and the North American Tourism and Hospitality Investment Conference.

The same positive economic trends moving the Federal Reserve toward increasing interest rates are lifting commercial real estate performance, reported Marcus & Millichap, Calabasas, Calif.