This was an odd year for real estate, particularly at the very top of the market. Certain regions saw record-breaking listings but sparse sales. Others saw brisk business for the merely wealthy and stagnant sales at levels only the super-rich can afford. There was a backlash against mega-mansions but not mega-prices. It was a year in which billions changed hands, but very few records were set. The following are some of this year's most interesting sales. 1 The Girasol estate in St.

A collection of 20 significant deals and trends in Houston commercial real estate headlines this year: Brookfield closes on mega downtown deal; Howard Hughes Corp. breaks ground on The Woodland Hills; Target unveils next-gen retail store in Richmond; and more.

Collectively, homes in the Houston metro totaled $393.4 billion in value in 2017, up 5.4 percent over the past year, according to an analysis by Zillow. That outpaced last year's gain, when the total value of homes in the Houston market went up 1.2 percent.

The figures compares with a 6.5 percent gain for the U.S. housing stock, which added $2 trillion in value 2017 for a total of $31.8 trillion, according to Zillow. Three cities contributed more than $1 trillion each to the tally: Los Angeles ($2.7 trillion), New York ($2.6 trillion), and San Francisco ($1.4 trillion).

YC Properties is opening a Louetta Penthouse, a four-story office and retail building at 8917 Louetta Spring in the Vintage Park area.

Events, a staple of River Oaks Shopping Center selling luxury gifts, home items and stationery for 30 years, will get a new home in 2018. The locally-owned retailer will move to a new River Oaks area store at 2439 Westheimer, east of Kirby Drive. The move comes as Weingarten Realty prepares to break ground on a 30-story residential tower on a portion of the shopping center that housed Local Pour and Café Ginger. The nearby tower will be east of Events on West Gray at Driscoll Street.

LaSalle Investment Management has acquired the Costco-anchored Greenway Commons retail center at 3830 Richmond Avenue near Greenway Plaza through its LaSalle Property Fund.

WASHINGTON - Americans purchased homes at the fastest pace in nearly 11 years, as sales climbed 5.6 percent in November. The National Association of Realtors said this past week that sales of existing homes rose last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.81 million units. Home sales were last this strong in December 2006, when properties sold at annual pace of 6.42 million. The strong demand for buying homes is a sign of an increasingly vibrant economy after a steady eight-year expansion. The unemployment rate has fallen to a 17-year low, while more people in the younger millennial generation appear to be forming their own households and looking for places to buy.

The Federal Historic Tax credit developers often use to rehab old buildings had been on the chopping block in an earlier version of the tax reform bill, but it was put back in the package headed to the President's desk for signature.

Indianapolis-based Duke Realty Corp. has gained a 772,500-square-foot property in Pasadena with the purchase of Bayport Distribution Center II near Port Houston. The property, consisting of two warehouses on 42 acres at 4331 and 4033 Underwood Road, is fully leased by Supply Chain Management, St. George Logistics and IDC. Mountain West Industrial Properties, which also operates in the Denver and Phoenix markets, sold the buildings. HFF's Trent Agnew, Rusty Tamlyn and Dane Petersen marketed the property for Mountain West and its institutional partner. Built in 2008, Bayport Distribution Center II consists of a 600,000-square-foot building and a 172,500-square-foot building with clear heights ranging from 24 to 30 feet.

Galleria Office Tower I, a 493,456-square-foo­t renovated building at 2700 Post Oak Blvd., is 85 percent leased after two deals, according to Colvill Office Properties. BKD, a CPA firm represented by CBRE's Lucian Bukowski and Nicholas Bockhorn, has leased 29,690 square feet. Lucas Associates, an executive recruiting firm represented by CBRE's Bill Boyer and Collin Grimes, has leased 14,174 square feet. Brad Beasley and Win Haggard of Colvill Office Properties represented the landlord. The building is owned by Azrieli Group and Unilev Capital Corp. Talos Energy has leased 98,000 square feet in Three Allen Center for relocation of its headquarters from One Allen Center.

Talos Energy relocates to larger space in Allen Center

Public Storage added more than 1 million square feet of storage space to the Houston market in 2017, the company announced. With the additions, Houston eclipsed Dallas as the company's largest market in Texas by more than 500,000 square feet.

Stafford Grove Industrial Park is 85 percent occupied, and has a 20,450-square-foot space and a 34,100-square-foot space remaining for lease.

BKD and Lucas Associates have signed up for offices in the renovated Galleria Office Tower I.

LOS ANGELES - Shoppers braving the mall this holiday season may notice more that's new than the day's discounts. Many mall owners are spending billions to add more upscale restaurants and bars, premium movie theaters with dine-in options, bowling alleys and similar amenities. Some have turned swaths of space that previously housed department stores over to health clubs and grocery stores. Others are undergoing ground-up transformations to make room for office space, hotels and apartments.

The president of board of the embattled Montrose Management District will resign at the end of the year, the district has confirmed.

Downtown Houston's Main Street boasts some of the most expensive office real estate in the country, according to a new report. The 1½-mile-long street ranks No. 21 on JLL's national list of streets with the highest office rents. The average rent for office space on Main Street downtown is $44.24 per square foot, about 45 percent higher than the city average of $30.55 per square foot, the commercial real estate firm said. Trophy towers on Main Street include Hines' 609 Main, Transwestern's 1000 Main and BG Group Place. Two other Texas cities made JLL's annual list, including Austin and Dallas. Austin's Congress Avenue was the 10th most expensive street nationally with rents averaging $58.20 per square foot.

Capital Retail Properties and Wile Interests have teamed up on a project to turn 1.7 acres along North Shepherd Drive, south of 16th Street, into a 30,000-square-foot center that will bring services and restaurants to a rapidly changing area of the Houston Heights. The Houston-based developers acquired a 75,000-square-foot parcel at 1533 N. Shepherd, consisting of nine tracts, from a private seller in August. They chose Austin-based Michael Hsu Office of Architecture to create the Market at Houston Heights. The developers aim to attract about 10 tenants, including a restaurant, to anchor a 4,000-square-foot building at the southwest corner.

Lincoln Property Co. has boosted occupancy of Intercontinental Park I, an 83,969-square-foot office building at 16801 Greenspoint Park, to 52 percent. Centre Technologies, represented by Gary Lawless of Cresa Partners, signed a lease for 18,073 square feet. Interactive Learning Systems, represented by Steve Jenkins of Vanguard Commercial, has leased 16,126 square feet. Virgil Hydes and Kevin Wyatt represented Lincoln Property Co. in-house. Avera Cos. announced the acquisition of 369 acres along Bay Area Boulevard, between Spencer Highway and Fairmont Parkway in La Porte, from PPG Industries. Avera sold a portion of the land, totaling 235 acres west of Bay Area Boulevard, to Beazer Homes for a residential development.

Dallas-based Westmount Realty Capital has expanded its Houston holdings with the acquisition of the 234-unit Copper Mill apartments at 15910 FM 529.