National market report

California

California cities like San Jose and Oakland have seen sharp drops in inventory over the past year, leading to faster home sales, the Wall Street Journal reported. The number of available homes listed for sale nationwide in August fell by 18.7 percent from the same period of last year and 34.1 percent from two years ago, the Journal said. The declines were largely due to strength in many parts of the Western U.S., which are benefiting from strong investor demand. Of the cities with the largest year-over-year declines, some 13 were in California, led by Oakland, which posted a 58.4 percent drop in available homes for sale. Other sharp drops came in Stockton, which saw its inventory fall 45 percent from last year, and San Jose, where the number of listings fell 41.1 percent. In a number of Western cities, meanwhile, this shortage of inventory is leading to faster home sales. In San Jose, for example, more than 52 percent of all new listings in August went under contract in 14 days or less. Markets in other parts of the country saw less aggressive activity, however. Fewer than 10 percent of listings in Chicago, Long Island and Boston went into contract within two weeks. Median asking prices across the country, meanwhile, were nearly flat compared to one year ago, according to the Journal.

Austin

Four years after filing for bankruptcy, Lehman Brothers Holdings has finally unloaded its boom-time purchase of much of downtown Austin’s office market, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a deal valued at $859 million (including the assumption of $626 million in debt), Lehman sold a portfolio of eight Austin office properties to a team of Thomas Properties Group, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System and Madison International Realty. The deal accounts for a large chunk of Austin’s skyline and a major portion of the city’s prime office space. Among the buildings in the portfolio is the Frost Bank Tower, a recognizable 33-story glass tower with a crown-like roof. Thomas and CalSTRS already owned a 25 percent stake in the portfolio, while Lehman — which emerged from bankruptcy earlier this year under a liquidation plan — owned a 50 percent interest. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority owned the remaining 25 percent stake. While commercial property values have been gradually improving, the price tag is still far below the hefty $1.2 billion Lehman, Thomas and CalSTRS paid for the portfolio in 2007.

Atlanta

Tishman Speyer has sold Two Alliance Center, a 29-story trophy property in Atlanta, to Highwoods Properties for $152.3 million, Commercial Property Executive reported. The 492,000-square-foot office building, developed by Tishman in 2009, is in Atlanta’s trendy Buckhead submarket. Major tenants in the high-rise include the aluminum products manufacturer Novelis, which occupies 125,200 square feet in the building, and international professional services firm Marsh & McLennan Cos., which has 123,500. Tishman had hoped to garner approximately $172.6 million, or $350 per square foot, for the property, but in the end walked away with roughly $309 per square foot. The record for the sale of a Buckhead office property was set in 2011, when Parkway Properties picked up 3344 Peachtree for $167.3 million, or $346 per square foot.

Dallas

Southwest Airlines broke ground on a $100 million, 492,000-square-foot expansion of its Dallas headquarters, the Dallas Business Journal reported. The company, which is headquartered at 2702 Love Field Drive, is constructing two buildings across the street: a two-story, 100,000-square-foot operations building, and a four-story, 392,000-square-foot office and training property. The expansion will allow Southwest to house some 5,000 Dallas employees, up from the 4,000 it has now. Construction is slated for completion late next year, while occupancy will begin in 2014. According to data from Jones Lang LaSalle, Dallas had a total office vacancy of nearly 36 million square feet, or 22.4 percent, in the second quarter of this year, and the average asking rent was $20.70 per square foot.

Ojai, California

Libbey Ranch

Actress Reese Witherspoon listed her Ojai, Calif., estate, known as Libbey Ranch, last month for $10 million, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The seven-acre Spanish Colonial estate includes a four-bedroom house, three guest cottages, a carriage house, horse stables and a swimming pool, according to the listing with Billy Rose of the Agency, a Beverly Hills-based real estate brokerage.

Washington, D.C.

Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Illinois congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., listed his Washington, D.C., Victorian-style townhouse last month for $2.5 million, the Chicago Tribune reported. For the past three months, Jackson has been on a medical leave of absence after receiving treatment for bipolar disorder, and has not returned to the Capitol, though he faces re-election in November. The congressman purchased the property in 1998 for $575,000. The 2,936-square-foot townhouse has four bedrooms, five fireplaces and a rooftop deck.

Los Angeles

Vanessa Paradis’s new Los Angeles home

Actor Johnny Depp has purchased a $4.4 million Hollywood Hills villa for his ex-girlfriend Vanessa Paradis, the New York Daily News reported. The 5,800-square-foot property, which Depp purchased through a trust, comes with five bedrooms, a pool and a hot tub. The couple, who have two children, previously lived in France and on a private island in the Bahamas.