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Once a sprawling expanse of uncharted land, Las Vegas, Nevada, has evolved into the entertainment capital of the world, a gaming super-hub, and a premier destination for sports. This remarkable transformation didn’t happen overnight; it stemmed from decades of strategic planning, investment, and visionary zoning recommendations.

A new report by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Heitman, a global real estate investment management firm, explores the impact of rising insurance costs on commercial real estate, strategies for managing those costs, and related considerations for industry participants.

Obsolete buildings will constitute up to 50 percent of all new housing in cities

The construction landscape has largely held steady across the United States and Canada.

The term “Environmental, Social, and Governance,” or ESG, has been around for two decades, first being coined by the United Nations Global Compact in 2004. However, the rise of the framework has led to increasing political backlash, with some states outright banning ESG in investment decisions.

Some commercial real estate owners face rising costs due to climate risk

Developers and hyperscalers apply myriad solutions to meet climate goals

Industry CPPI data suggests that property prices may be at—or near—bottom. The three major indexes from MSCI Real Assets, CoStar, and Green Street all showed an increase in CPPI in August. After rising 1.6 percent in August, Green Street’s recently released Commercial Property Price Index remained unchanged in September. Green Street’s all-property index—a measure of pricing for institutional-quality properties—is up 3.3 percent year-to-date through September.

Given the pressing challenges real estate is facing globally on advancing building decarbonization, ULI is honored to announce that 10 District and National Councils have been selected to participate in the fourth Net Zero Imperative (NZI) Cohort. NZI is a multiyear initiative to accelerate decarbonization in the built environment and is a significant aspect of ULI’s work to advance its net zero mission priority.

Aberdeen, South Dakota’s rich history as a bustling hub with a vibrant downtown provides a strong foundation for revitalization. Historic photos of Main Street from the early 1900s could easily be mistaken for scenes from Brooklyn, New York, of the same era. Understanding why the town moved away from this dynamic core, and lost its historical vibrancy, is essential.

AI, redefining what is possible

As Baby Boomers continue to retire, having a concrete plan ensures businesses will continue to thrive

As the Fed began a series of rate hikes in 2022, the apartment market went from one of frenzied growth and optimism to a market characterized by decline, be it declining sales volume, declining occupancy, or declining values. As we near year’s end, stability and even positive momentum have begun to take hold, and there is good reason to expect them to carry into 2025 with the return of large, open-ended funds and an improved debt environment.

A $3.6 billion commitment to create or preserve 35,000-plus affordable homes

When the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law a little more than two years ago, it was celebrated by many who work in the real estate industry as a crucial tool for encouraging and offsetting the cost of green buildings. The tax incentives offer a lot of opportunities for owners and developers to cut expenditures, sometimes significantly, in a time when interest rates and the cost of construction remain high. Navigating the various incentives and programs has broadly proved challenging, however, and experts hope to spark more awareness around the benefits of the IRA and how to move past common obstacles.

Institute trustee and Foundation governor was a force in Denver real estate

Over the last 18 months, commercial real estate loans have been maturing at a torrid rate, in a rapidly evolving marketplace. Although economic growth remains resilient, commercial real estate oversupply, growth in operating expenses, higher leverage, and the cost of debt are creating headwinds for commercial real estate asset values. Moreover, roughly $2 trillion in commercial real estate loans will mature by the end of 2026.

The U.S. multifamily market was on fire in 2021 and 2022, a time when rent growth hit record highs due to soaring demand. But the market has since come back down to Earth as fundamentals stabilized. Now, amid ongoing high interest rates, heightened deliveries of supply, and deceleration of job growth, many multifamily investors are exploring different strategies to diversify their portfolios, add revenue, take advantage of opportunities, and maintain a competitive edge.

How seven U.S. cities are tackling the future of downtowns

Affordability and low inventory are continuing to create pain points for the housing market. According to newly released data from the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), pending home sales are at their lowest level since the Great Financial Crisis. Existing-home sales for August dropped 4.2 percent from a year ago to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.86 million. Although the Fed has kicked off its rate-cutting cycle with a 50-basis-point reduction at its September 18 meeting, high interest rates are still a big hurdle for homebuyers and housing developers.

Texas Southern University professor and environmental justice advocate to receive ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development.

President Biden’s administration aims to speed up historic building reviews.

Surge: Coastal Resilience and Real Estate, a ULI research report, documents the challenges associated with coastal hazards such as sea level rise, coastal storms, flooding, erosion, and subsidence, and provides best practices for real estate and land use professionals, as well as public officials, to address them.

The ULI Atlanta District Council has announced its expansion of programming with the creation of a satellite in Savannah, Georgia. ULI Savannah will locally support the Institute’s global mission of shaping the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide.

This year’s Net Zero Buildings Week is Sept. 16-20. The virtual event series supports partnerships and collaboration across the built environment industry to collectively advance net zero buildings.

Northern Mexico has experienced a significant expansion in the Mexican industrial real estate sector since its major decline from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, due, in part, to low-cost production in China. During the pandemic, that trend began to shift.

Twenty years ago, India had only 50 airports with regularly scheduled service, according to statistics from the Airports Authority of India. By 2014, the number had grown to 74. By 2023, the number had doubled, to 148. Sometime in the 2030s, it is expected to double again. Even more extraordinary than the number of airports, however, is their architecture.

Las Vegas is unlike any other place in America. Each year it draws more than 40 million visitors to the dazzling casinos and hotels that “turn night into daytime”—and transform the city into a glittering jewel in the desert. With 164,000 hotel rooms, Las Vegas is the largest hospitality market in the U.S.—outpacing Orlando, Florida, the next biggest market, by approximately 15 percent, according to JLL.

Amblebrook, an innovative retirement community in the historic setting of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was specifically designed to remedy this social disease. It shatters the mold of the conventional 55-plus community.

Resilience hubs are an essential tool for real estate to consider as part of its preparation for a changing climate, according to a recent webinar hosted by ULI and the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN).