The ULI Center for Capital Markets and Real Estate addresses a range of real estate market trends.
To best understand the demand for real estate and discover what the market wants short term versus what it needs long term, ULI has developed the Center for Capital Markets and Real Estate, along with the annual global infrastructure report.
ULI’s Center for Capital Markets and Real Estate was launched in 2009. The mission of the center is to promote understanding of the real estate capital markets and provide leadership in fostering a healthy and productive real estate industry and capital markets sector.
Capital markets are critical to the functioning of the real estate industry. The center seeks to help ULI members access and/or deploy capital wisely, and to make informed investment and financial decisions that in turn benefit both members and the urban environment.
In line with recent trustee guidance, the program is designed to be tactical and practical, provide immediate member value, help member businesses, provide current market knowledge and expertise, use online technology, focus on best practices, use surveys to gather information, address public/private finance in a new era, and generally emphasize adaptation and reinvention in a changing financial environment.
In addition, the center produces the highly regarded Emerging Trends in Real Estate, which uses surveys and interviews with real estate leaders to identify and highlight key trends and provide an outlook on real estate investment in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. The results of these studies draw considerable press attention and are presented at over 60 well-attended events around the world, including about 45 events in the United States and 20 globally.
The ULI Real Estate Business Barometer, a monthly report released via the online magazine, tracks, gathers, and summarizes, in one place, over 70 key real estate business indicators and how they are changing, important information members need in order to make short- and long-term business decisions.
ULI’s McCoy Symposium on Real Estate Finance, an annual leadership, invitation-only forum, brings together 30 to 40 leading executives in the world of real estate finance and investment to discuss and explore key trends and issues affecting the real estate capital markets and the real estate industry.
Global Infrastructure Report
New Programs Real Estate Investment and Finance Conference. The conference brings together top real estate capital market and industry leaders—connecting both providers and users of capital—to learn about and discuss current trends, strategies, opportunities, and the future of real estate finance and investment. Quarterly Survey of Leading Real Estate Economists/Analysts. This quarterly survey of 50 to 75 leading real estate economists/analysts is intended to provide expert insight and forecasts regarding the direction and future of the real estate economy in the United States. ULI Metro-Area Business Barometer. This tool for tracking ten to 20 key economic and real estate market indicators in the top 50 U.S. metro areas provides timely and comparable information to members and district councils regarding metro-area market performance. Innovative Public/Private Finance Forum. This small forum, conducted with the Rose Center, of 30 to 40 leaders from the public and private sectors focuses on identifying and developing new tools and strategies for public/private partnerships and finance in an age of fiscal restraint. China Cities Survey. This annual survey and report discusses real estate investment trends and the investment outlook for the 16 largest cities in China. |
High-quality infrastructure is of critical importance to ULI members individually, to the real estate industry, and to national and global economic prosperity. In the annual global infrastructure report, ULI’s flagship infrastructure publication, ULI reviews the state of infrastructure globally, nationally, and at the metropolitan level. Produced in partnership with Ernst & Young each year since 2007, the report benchmarks U.S. investment in infrastructure with investment in other countries and explores cutting-edge infrastructure issues—such as water, transportation, and infrastructure finance—in depth.
One of the few synthesis infrastructure publications produced for a nonexpert audience by any organization, the report has established ULI as a thought leader on infrastructure topics. ULI’s position as an organization that straddles the private and public sectors, along with its long history and grounding in real-world development deals, gives it a unique credibility and perspective in the national infrastructure debate. Over the years, ULI has made significant contributions to this discussion, and was an early voice highlighting the deterioration of U.S. infrastructure and calling for both increased and more strategic infrastructure spending.
Released at ULI’s Spring Council Forum every year, the report is presented by Ernst & Young at the opening general session and distributed free to all attending members. It is then shared with district councils and national councils during the spring and summer at a series of speaking events held throughout the United States and internationally. These infrastructure programs provide the opportunity for district councils to discuss local infrastructure opportunities and challenges, to place local issues in their national and international context, and to offer strong member value and content.
The report is extensively researched using a variety of sources, including reports and articles, discussion forums, interviews with industry leaders (which are excerpted in the report as anonymous quotes), as well as surveys. It has also featured question-and-answer sessions with policy makers on topics including a new national infrastructure bank.
ULI’s infrastructure report has generated significant media buzz in recent years. Infrastructure 2011: A Strategic Priority received A-section coverage in the Washington Post. It has been mentioned or highlighted in over 100 news articles, and ULI senior staff have recently appeared on NPR’s nationally syndicated Diane Rehm show as well as C-SPAN to discuss the report’s findings.
The infrastructure series has joined Emerging Trends in Real Estate as one of ULI’s signature and eagerly anticipated annual publications.