Insights
Real Estate: events that moved it
Income-producing property, held through co-investments and funds. This page gathers the pieces in our Insights archive that touched real estate: what happened, what it meant for this kind of investment, and where to read the original reporting.
Market-history pieces are retrospectives, dated by the event. They are general information, not advice, and not a record of any RockLake position at the time.
Market history · 25
Central banks ·
The Fed turns: from a cutting debate to a rate rise
In 2026 the Federal Reserve moved from dissents in favour of cuts to a unanimous quarter-point increase.
Central banks ·
The Fed cuts for a third time, with three dissents
By December 2025 the policy rate was down to 3.50–3.75%, and the Committee was split three ways.
Central banks ·
The Fed begins cutting with a half-point move
The first reduction since 2020 took the target range to 4.75–5.00%.
Real estate ·
New York Community Bancorp falls 37% on property losses
A regional lender with large commercial property exposure posted a loss and cut its dividend.
Credit ·
A Hong Kong court orders Evergrande to be wound up
Two and a half years after its first missed payment, the world's most indebted developer was ordered to liquidate.
Real estate ·
US mortgage rates reach a twenty-year high
The 30-year fixed rate averaged 7.09%, the highest in over two decades, squeezing housing activity.
Credit ·
Country Garden misses dollar bond payments
China's property trouble spread beyond Evergrande to a developer that had been seen as one of the stronger ones.
Central banks ·
The Fed's last rate rise takes rates to a 22-year high
A quarter-point increase brought the target range to 5.25–5.50%.
Real estate ·
Brookfield defaults on two Los Angeles office towers
About $784 million of loans on downtown offices went unpaid as rates rose and tenants stayed away.
Real estate ·
A $69 billion property fund reaches its withdrawal limit
Blackstone's flagship real estate fund for individual investors paid out only part of what investors asked for.
Bonds ·
The UK mini-budget and the gilt crisis
Unfunded tax cuts sent gilt yields soaring and forced the Bank of England to intervene.
Central banks ·
The ECB raises rates by half a point and ends negative rates
Its first rise in eleven years was twice the size it had signalled.
Inflation ·
US inflation reaches 9.1%, a 40-year high
Consumer prices rose 9.1% in the year to June 2022, the fastest since 1981.
Central banks ·
The Fed's 75 basis-point hike
The largest single rate rise since 1994 in a year that took rates from near zero to 4.5%.
Central banks ·
The Bank of England raises rates first
A surprise rise to 0.25% made it the first major central bank to tighten after the pandemic.
Inflation ·
Inflation stops being "transitory"
Consumer prices rose at their fastest pace in about four decades and the Fed changed course.
Credit ·
Evergrande and China's property reckoning
The world's most indebted developer missed payments and set off a sector-wide crisis.
Markets ·
Vaccine news sparks a great rotation
Positive trial results sent cyclical and value stocks surging and pandemic winners lower.
Equities ·
The fastest bear market in history
The S&P 500 fell about a third in five weeks as the pandemic shut down economies.
Central banks ·
The Fed goes back to zero
An emergency weekend meeting cut rates to near zero and restarted quantitative easing.
Real estate ·
A £2.5 billion UK property fund suspends dealing
M&G stopped investors from withdrawing, citing unusually high and sustained outflows.
New issues ·
WeWork's IPO collapses
A planned flotation valued at up to $47 billion was pulled after investors balked.
Central banks ·
The Fed pivots: the first cut since 2008
After hiking through 2018, the Fed cut three times in 2019 as growth slowed.
Policy ·
US tax reform cuts the corporate rate to 21%
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed on 22 December 2017.
Currencies ·
Brexit: the UK votes to leave the EU
A 52–48 result surprised markets and sent sterling to a 30-year low.
Explainers · 6
Liquidity
Liquidity: the cost you only notice when you need cash
How lock-ups, notice periods and thin markets change what an investment is worth to you.
Inflation
Real returns: what your money buys, not what it says
Why a return only means something after inflation, and what that changes.
Alternatives
Why private assets look calmer than they are
Valuations that are updated rarely can hide the volatility underneath.
Central banks
How interest-rate cycles move different assets
Why a change in central bank policy rarely affects every holding the same way.
Real estate
Why property funds limit withdrawals
Buildings take months to sell. A fund that promises regular access has to plan for the days when many want out.
Investor education
How to use our market-history archive
Browse by year, by series or by the asset class an event affected, and follow each source to the original.
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