The Lede

National Real Estate Investor, June 28, 2019--Patricia KirkLandlords with older office buildings struggling with low occupancy may want to consider converting them to uses with higher demand for the location, including housing, hotels, schools, retail, start-up incubators or industrial facilities.

National Mortgage Professional, June 28, 2019--Phil HallThe combined business will operate as SitusAMC and have more than $175 billion of commercial assets under management and provide fair value assessment on more than $290 billion of commercial real estate assets quarterly.

HousingWire, June 28, 2019--Ben LaneUnder the terms of the deal, which was originally announced in March, JLL will acquire all the outstanding shares of HFF in a cash and stock transaction that carries an equity value of $2 billion.

Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2019--Peter Grant, Konrad Putzier (subscription)For years, real estate technology startups watched from the fringes as big banks and venture capital firms lavished attention on financial technology firms. Now "proptech" has joined the party.

American Banker, June 27, 2019--John Heltman, John Reosti (subscription)The Financial Accounting Standards Board is considering whether to consolidate or delay the deadlines for smaller firms to comply with a contentious new credit loss accounting standard, according to the association's chairman.

U.S. commercial real estate prices rose in May at their fastest annual rate this year, propelled by a jump in industrial property prices, reported Real Capital Analytics, New York.

The fastest-growing cities in the United States saw substantial declines in affordable housing units between 2010 and 2017, said Freddie Mac, McLean, Va.

Civic Financial Services, Redondo Beach, Calif., launched a new rental program designed for real estate investors focused on aggregating rental properties. The program includes 5/1, 7/1 and 10/1 interest-only ARM products for either a single asset or a portfolio of properties.

Real Capital Markets, Carlsbad, Calif., said office investment is "back on track," buoyed by significant sources of capital for deal-making following some political and economic uncertainty over the past year.

MBA offices will be closed on July 4 and 5 in observance of the Independence Day holiday. MBA NewsLink issue will publish as usual on Friday, July 5.