Alternative Investing Report - February 26, 2025

*as of 2/25; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, CL50

December brought the 19th straight month of growth in seasonally adjusted home prices according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which showed prices rising by 3.9% year-over-year. Of the 20 biggest metro areas, New York had the highest year-over-year gain at 7.2%, while Tampa saw the lowest gain at 1.1%. Meanwhile, the FHFA House Price Index showed a 0.4% monthly gain in December and a 4.5% year-over-year gain. The city that had the highest rate of appreciation was Honolulu at 18.7%, while Fort Myers, FL brought up the rear, falling by 6.3%.

➨ TAKEAWAY: While housing prices continue heading in a positive direction, the rate has slowed considerably. The 4.5% mark from the FHFA represents the lowest yearly increase since 2014, and the Case-Shiller results are far below the average 8.8% annual gain since 2020. With mortgage rates expected to stay higher for longer, this slower rate of growth appears to be the new normal.

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Bitcoin fell 7% yesterday to a three-month low, dropping below $90,000 for the first time in 2025, and is now down 20% from its all-time high in January. Ethereum has also dropped by more than 20% in the past month, and Dogecoin, which gained attention due to being the namesake of Elon Musk’s D.O.G.E. department, has fallen by 35% in the same timeframe. The entire crypto market cap has declined by more than 10% in the past 48 hours.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Anticipation was high after the election and inauguration, but the Trump administration’s pro-crypto stance has not led to a rally in the market as of yet. There hasn’t been a specific catalyst to push prices up, and with the crypto market, the price of tokens is often dictated by news, which leads to demand. Over the past year, Bitcoin in particular has become more correlated with the equities markets and the economy in general, and with the stock market on a downward trend, it is no surprise that Bitcoin has followed.

🤖 Anthropic’s next funding round: The AI startup is in talks to raise a $3.5 billion funding round, which would value the company at $61.5 billion, nearly triple its previous valuation.

💵 Apollo buying Bridge: The alternative asset manager is acquiring Bridge Investment Group in a $1.5 billion deal that will add over 55,000 apartment units to its portfolio and double its real estate AUM to $110 billion.

🏢 Return to office: The average office occupancy in the ten biggest cities in the country hit its highest rate since the pandemic, as more companies and organizations are mandating that employees return to in-person work.

💰 Gold ETF inflows increase: Last week saw the largest weekly inflows into physically-backed gold ETFs since May 2022, as the price of the precious metal continued to hit all-time highs.

🪙 OKX pleads guilty: The 4th largest crypto exchange in the world admitted to violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws, agreeing to a $505 million fine and to prevent U.S. customers from using the exchange.

🎨 Digital art fair cancelled: Hong Kong’s Digital Art Fair, which in previous years had focused on NFTs, as well as AR and VR experiences, failed to secure funding and will not be holding a 2025 edition.

Just over a month ago, Solana was ascending, hitting an all-time high of $295 on January 19, the day before President Trump’s inauguration, and looking like a real threat to become the second biggest token in crypto behind Bitcoin. Since then, it is down more than 50%, and has lost 16% of its value in the past week, hitting a five-month low. Part of the decline is due to the collapse of the Solana memecoin market, which has lost 67% of its value since December, lowering activity in the Solana ecosystem. The last time Solana was priced this low was just before the election, which fueled a rise in the entire crypto market. And with rumors circulating about potential Solana ETFs, there could be another price catalyst coming in the months ahead.