TPG Capital and Caruso Capital Partners, LLC, an affiliate of Caruso Affiliated, have formed a joint venture to invest as much as $750 million of debt and equity in opportunistic investments. They are eyeing retail centers as well as mixed-use properties in select western U.S. markets.

Fannie Mae has unveiled a change in its eligibility rules for applying for mortgages that the GSE is willing to back. Under the new rules, starting in July 1, beleaguered homeowners who either give up via a deed in lieu of foreclosure or by effecting a short sale will be eligible to apply for a Fannie-backed mortgage once again in two years. Currently the waiting period is four years.

Jones Lang LaSalle has spread its Silicon Valley wings with the addition of five new executives. These consist of three new hires and two transferred employees.

The San Francisco Transbay Joint Powers Authority’s (TJPA) development of the city’s new state-of-the-art Transbay Transit Center and Park is right on track. Now that Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects has submitted the final design report for the $4 billion downtown project, there is nothing stopping the first phase from getting underway this August.

Less than a year after being named President of CB Richard Ellis Investors, Matt Khourie has also been named Chief Executive Officer. Khourie joined CBRE in July and now succeeds Vance Maddocks, who after more than three years serving in two senior leadership roles plans to fully focus on his role as President of the Strategic Partners U.S. series of funds.

Cash-strapped California has at least one reason to smile: CB Richard Ellis has received more than 300 offers to purchase and lease back 11 state office properties on behalf of the California Department of General Services.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, new home sales spiked upward by 27 percent nationwide in March compared with the previous month, as a completely expected consequence of the looming cutoff date (this Friday) for the federal home buyer tax credit. New homes sold during the month at an annualized rate of 411,000, the bureau noted on Friday.

Is it becoming a little easier to get financing? No word on the lending market’s level of friendliness from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., which just closed a new $1.5 billion senior credit facility, courtesy of a 24-bank syndicate.

PS Business Parks has just doubled its presence in the Austin industrial market in one fell swoop. The Glendale, Calif.-based REIT plunked down $42.9 million in cash for the acquisition of a portfolio of flex business parks totaling 704,000 square feet.

The pieces of a sustainable recovery are just beginning to come together, but they’re not yet forming a completed puzzle. That’s according to Jones Lang LaSalle, whose Spring Economic Outlook finds that economic output grew at a robust level last quarter, but the change in private inventories – a major growth driver – is not sustainable long term.