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An unlikely new site for affordable housing, a spike in CMBS delinquencies and a very long wait to sell a home. From the wild and wooly world of real estate, here are our Hits and Misses for the week of Dec. 30-Jan. 3.

Hit: A Trashy Solution. New York City is taking a unique approach to addressing its housing shortage – an old garage for garbage trucks on Staten Island is being converted into an affordable housing development. And, no, residents will not be taking the Oscar the Grouch approach of living in garbage cans – the garage will be replaced by a three-building, 232-unit development that includes 90 apartments set aside for lower-income seniors. As for the garbage trucks, they’re also getting a new home at a garage being built elsewhere on Staten Island.

Miss: A Troubling Trend. The commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) delinquency rate spiked by 17 basis points in December to 6.57%, according to new data from Trepp Inc. Year-over-year, the overall CMBS delinquency rate is up 206 basis points. The office sector recorded a 63 basis points rise to a new high of 11.01% – this marked the first time that the office sector’s delinquency rate surpassed the 11% mark – while the retail delinquency rate recorded a massive 86 basis points increase to 7.43%, a 2.5 year high. Let’s hope this trend for rising CMBS delinquency rates takes an abrupt about-face in 2025.

Miss: Unhealthy Housing. A new report by the Centre for Ageing Better has determined 4.5 million people ages 50 and up with an existing health condition in England are living in poor-quality housing that is having a harsh impact on their wellness – with 1.7 million of that number are ages 70 and older. The problems within the housing in question include rising levels of dampness, water leaks, bad condensation, electrical or plumbing problems, rot and decay, being too cold in the winter, and structural issues. Among the health issues of the people examined by the report were respiratory diseases, congestive heart failure, heart disease, neurological disease and lung conditions including asthma. The report warned this situation will create significant problems for the UK economy and the National Health Service – let’s see what Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government can offer as a solution to this socioeconomic crisis.

Hit: Patience (Finally) Pays Off. Real estate developer Khosro Khaloghli listed his 78.5-acre coastal California estate in 2010 for $58 million. It sold this week for $17.22 million. Okay, maybe this took a tad longer than expected and the pricing discount could be charitably described as acute, but Khaolghli’s confidence in securing a buyer never wavered – and if it wasn’t the payoff he originally wanted, at least was able to pass the keys to a new owner.

Hit: A Long Overdue Solution. Earlier this week, hedge fund executive Bill Ackman predicted the incoming Trump administration will privatize the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, ending a federal conservatorship that has been in place since September 2008. Ackman, the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Management, stated, “Trump likes big deals and this would be the biggest deal in history. I am confident he will get it done.” Ackman predicted that the privatized GSE would be a win-win for the government and investors. Let’s hope Ackman’s forecast is accurate – it has taken far too long to resolve the status of the GSEs.

In Memoriam: Jimmy Carter. Not unlike Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter was a decent, intelligent and honest man. And also, not unlike Hoover, Carter was judged by voters to be the wrong man at the national wheel during years of tumult. But whereas Hoover is still vilified for his handling of the Great Depression, history has been kinder to Carter’s administration handling of the economic and international crises that resulted in his embarrassing electoral defeat. Much of this revisionism can be attributed to his distinguished post-presidential years, particularly with his work on behalf of the affordable housing nonprofit Habitat for Humanity and his Nobel Prize-winning work with the Carter Center. If he was an imperfect president, he was also a patriot and a humanitarian who served his country for many years – and we are a better country for having someone of his caliber in our lives.

Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].

Photo courtesy of Joe_Potato / Getty Images