Existing U.S. home sales surged an unsurprising 7.6 percent in April from March to an annualized rate of 5.77 million, according to the National Association of Realtors on Monday. Compared with April 2009, sales were 22.8 percent higher.

The Beal Companies L.L.P. and Rockport Group L.L.C. inked deals with Monster.com and Verizon for 28,000 square feet each, Altran Solutions for 13,500 square feet, and Interaction Associates for 10,000 square feet.

According to Fitch Ratings, the balance on a nearly $5 billion loan on an Equity Office Properties Trust portfolio has been moved to special servicing, with “imminent default” given as the reason.

Seeing is believing. That’s why Scott Yahraus created ConstructionPhotoDocs, an online system that documents each step of the building process.

The new NPR headquarters will be located at 1111 North Capitol St., N.E., in the city’s burgeoning NoMa neighborhood, on a site that was home to a 165,000-square-foot warehouse when the company acquired the property in 2008.

CPE Radio: Bernard Haddigan, head of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Group’s national retail group, comments on upcoming changes for retailers and retail real estate as he prepares to head to ICSC’s annual Recon convention.

“Exactly a year ago, economists were blindsided by first quarter GDP growth data staying near half-century lows, following a London G20 conference where the D-word — depression — dominated discussions,” noted a report by the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) over the weekend. “That’s when ECRI warned publicly that the recession would end by summer.”

CPE Radio: Bernard Haddigan, head of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Group’s national retail group, comments on upcoming changes for retailers and retail real estate as he prepares to head to ICSC’s annual Recon convention.

The credit markets haven’t defrosted completely, but one wouldn’t know it looking at Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s latest coup.