After two days of internal discussions, the Federal Reserve decided yesterday to stay the course by not altering its benchmark short-term interest rate. Despite months of haranguing by President Donald Trump--and slowing economic growth--the Fed declined to lower the prime lending rate from its current range of 2.25 and 2.5 percent. In a prepared statement, the Fed affirmed that the US economy remains strong while "uncertainties about this outlook have increased." (Photo Cred

The volume of all commercial sales is off 8 percent year-over-year with transactions totaling $36.5 billion, according to a new report from Real Capital Analytics (RCA). Yet prices are up 7.2 percent overall despite a slowing in price growth. The industrial sector posted the strongest growth at 11.8 percent, with the retail sector lagged all others with just 3.1 percent gains year-over-year, although this growth was actually the strongest in years for retail properties. REIT

The US National All-Property Index logged a 6.7 percent gain over April a year ago, but price growth has slowed since a year ago, according to a late May report from Real Capital Analytics. As the chart below shows, the gaining property types are Central Business District (CBD) Office, Industrial and Retail, in that order. Meanwhile, price growth in the multi-family sector (Apartments) slowed from nearly 13 percent to just over 7 percent during the same period. (Chart Credit: