“Debt” is going to be the name of the game for the European real estate markets in 2012, according to Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe 2012, the industry forecast published by PwC and the Urban Land Institute.

BRE DDR Retail Holdings L.L.C., a joint venture between Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII L.P. and DDR Corp., has just spent $1.4 billion on a 47-property retail portfolio formerly owned by EPN Group.

Developers are finding ready financing for their projects, including $66 million for a D.C. multi-family, $50 million for Las Vegas retail and $70 million for a Michigan apartment complex.

Behringer Harvard Multifamily REIT I Inc. has just entered into a new co-investment partnership with one of the world’s largest pension funds, advised by Heitman L.L.C., a multinational real estate investment management firm with more than $23 billion of assets.

The latest idea to stave off Europe’s woes is the creation of a permanent European Stability Mechanism. U.S. purchasing and supply managers have reason to be optimistic. And Nevada and California are pooling resources to investigate robo-signing shenanigans.

TF Cornerstone has secured $265 million in financing from a consortium of four banks for the development of 4545 Center Blvd, an 850-unit luxury apartment high-rise that will sprout up in Long Island City, Queens.

In a huge move for the Sam Zell-helmed Equity Residential, the firm has entered into a contract for a 26.5 percent ownership stake in Archstone, a privately held owner, operator and developer of multi-family apartment properties.

Saying “we can’t wait for Congress to act,” President Obama on Friday announced that over the next two years, nearly $4 billion in combined federal and private-sector money will be surging into energy upgrades to buildings.

Capitalizing on the growing demand for residential rentals in metropolitan Washington, D.C., Washington Real Estate Investment Trust has entered into a joint venture with Trammell Crow Co. to build an apartment high-rise in Alexandria, Va., for $95 million.

While the ink has cooled on the lease signing at Brooklyn’s 470 Vanderbilt project, CPE was able to sit down with Lance Capital to see how creative financing terms pushed the deal through with the anchor tenant, the New York City Human Resources Administration.