Investor interest in the office market will gain some steam in 2012, as per results of the PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Real Estate Investor Survey, and the apartment sector will continue to attract a great deal of attention — as well as development dollars.

In a deal reaching a reported $100 million, M-M Properties — partnering with an institutional client of Invesco Real Estate — has acquired Dallas’ 1.2 million-square-foot Plaza of the Americas.

With Christmas over, retailers are pushing hard for year-end sales numbers. And new-home sales inched upward in November by 1.6 percent.

A surprising round of good news ahead of the holidays. CPE’s economic analyst Dees Stribling gives his podcast for the week ending Dec. 23, 2011.

Hines has just achieved LEED Gold for Existing Buildings certification for its 896,500-square-foot office building at 321 North Clark at Riverfront Plaza in Chicago.

UDR Inc. and joint venture partner Kuwait Finance House continue to augment their Washington, D.C.-area apartment portfolio with the $154 million acquisition of 1301 Thomas Circle.

Courting two different sellers is no easy task, but Duke Realty Corp. has announced this week that it has done just that, adding two industrial properties in the Dallas area to its portfolio that total 1.4 million square feet.

Carrying a sale price of $442.5 million, Houston’s Hess Tower was just picked up by H&R Real Estate Investment Trust from Trammell Crow Co. and Principal Real Estate Investors.

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped to 364,000 last week, and there appears to be optimism for the fourth quarter. The payroll-tax standoff ended with a whimper yesterday.

Talon Private Capital and Prudential have taken Seattle’s 312,700-square-foot office tower at 1800 Ninth Ave. off the hands of Regence BlueShield in a sale-leaseback transaction for $76.5 million.