After being sued by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley over allegedly dishonest sales of auction-rate securities, Merrill Lynch has offered to buy back those securities sold to its retail clients at par.

Winthrop Realty Trust, a Boston- and New York-based real estate investment trust, ended the second quarter of 2008 with a $24.1 million net loss, compared with net income of $12.8 million in the same period last year.

Architecture and engineering firms are laying off workers at an increasing pace, up to 4.7 percent of their workforces in 2008, from 3.7 percent last year, which has created a strong demand for employee outplacement and expanded severance services, according to Natick-based A&E consulting firm ZweigWhite.

Senior Housing Properties Trust, a real estate investment trust headquartered in Newton, has reported net income of $21.7 million for the second quarter of the year, compared to $20.6 million last year, a 5.3 percent increase.

U.S. home sales contracts signed in June unexpectedly rose across the country to its highest level since October, but still were well below year-earlier levels, a real estate trade group said Thursday.