AUSTIN—Office continues “a strong growth trend” here, says Xceligent, with Q2 news also good for industrial here and in San Antonio.

DALLAS—The Metroplex's overall office vacancy rate “is expected to drop further this year, due to several additional large deals that are in the works,” according to Xceligent.

WASHINGTON, DC—Led by William Ackman, the largest stockholder in Fannie and Freddie alleges in a lawsuit that the 2012 decision to divert both GSEs' profits to the US Treasury deprives common shareholders of “any economic value in their shares.”

BIRMINGHAM, AL—Xceligent data on Alabama's largest city and the two major population centers of Arkansas show that the Texas energy and tech powerhouses aren't the only Southwest markets to have rebounded from the downturn.

DALLAS—Vine Oil & Gas, headquartered here, is partnering with Blackstone Energy Partners for a $1.2-billion acquisition of assets in the Haynesville Shale basin.

HOUSTON—Transwestern has arranged financing for developer Randall Davis' 29-story Astoria project, to be built in the Galleria submarket, through the Houston EB5 Regional Center.

HOUSTON—First announced in April, the acquisition is envisioned to “create a leader in scale and scope of services for the mortgage services market,” in the words of Stewart president Jason Nadeau.

LONDON—Sixty-three percent of private equity real estate fund managers plan to invest more capital over the next 12 months than they did in the previous year, Preqin says.