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Real estate economists’ outlook on the U.S. economy has improved over the past six months as economic data remain strong, and the long-predicted economic slowdown has failed to materialize. Responses to the latest semi-annual ULI Real Estate Economic Forecast survey, increasingly suggest a soft landing for the economy. In contrast, real estate market projections have declined as high-interest rates are expected to continue putting downward pressure on valuations and drag on performance in the near term.

As the recent cultural and real estate realignment called “The Great Mall Sorting” continues, A-plus malls are thriving, while the B and C properties are gradually being repurposed, reused, and completely rethought, according to architect Sean Slater, senior principal at the architectural firm RDC in San Diego.

The number of women who have joined ULI has more than doubled in recent years, from 20 percent of ULI’s nearly 28,000 members to more than 13,000 female members, which equates to 29 percent of the organization’s 45,000 members. In celebration of this growth, Urban Land is spotlighting some trailblazing women in commercial real estate, all of whom are members of the ULI Women’s Leadership Initiative. Julie Smith, chief administrative officer at Maryland-based Bozzuto and a former ULI District Council Leader, is among them.

Once overlooked as little more than open-air spaces for trailer parking, industrial outdoor storage (IOS) sites are emerging as a promising niche for their increasingly significant role in the e-commerce and logistics sectors and their potential to earn strong returns for investors.

Demand for industrial space has pushed vacancies to historically low levels. But the high tide may no longer be lifting all boats. A surge in new supply along with a growing appetite for more modern facilities is putting more pressure on the sector’s aging building stock. Legacy buildings are having a tougher time keeping up with the changing demands of today’s space users.

A general session at the ULI Carolinas Meeting, moderated by Risa Wilkerson of Healthy Places by Design, showcased how the convergence of the built environment, health and equity forms a complex web that impacts every facet of human life. Dr. Malo Andrew Hutson, a distinguished academic at the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture, provided a deep dive into how residential segregation and the built environment contribute to health disparities.

Many populations and regions face well-documented housing affordability challenges. For college students, specifically, the lack of options located on or near campus creates an additional hurdle in achieving their higher education goals. The inability to affordably live close to school has a huge impact on their time, performance, expense, and quality of life—not to mention increased output of greenhouse gases. Perkins & Will is partnering with the University of California San Diego (UCSD), which receives the second-largest of number applications of any university, nationwide, to help those students by designing the largest on-campus housing project in the country.

Potential trouble brewing in a sector that has been viewed as relatively bulletproof multifamily sector is concerning. But while stress is very much real, industry participants are quick to point out that the overall foundation for multifamily remains strong. “The cracks that we’re seeing are not structural; they’re superficial,” says Vincent DiSalvo, chief investment officer at Kingbird Investment Management, a family office investment firm specializing in multifamily.

ULI is proud to announce that we have joined MEP 2040 as a supporting organization. MEP 2040 is a movement to radically reduce total carbon emissions associated with Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) systems through collective action. “The embodied carbon associated with MEP systems is a burgeoning topic in real estate ESG. ULI is proud to support MEP2040 in its efforts to radically reduce total carbon emissions associated with building systems. We applaud the work of MEP engineering and design firms who have made the MEP2040 commitment and urge the broader industry to join the movement and advance real estate’s journey to net zero,” said Marta Schantz, co-executive director of ULI’s Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate.

Despite the monetary headwinds and continued economic uncertainty around the world, there is a strong belief that the global real estate industry is at a “pivot point,” with improving prospects ahead for renewed investment activity, according to the latest Emerging Trends in Real Estate^® Global Outlook 2024 from PwC and the Urban Land Institute.

The mental and physical benefits of being close to bodies of water—or “blue space”—have made headlines amid growing consumer interest in health and wellness. Scientific studies have shown the positive impacts of living and spending time near oceans, lakes, ponds, and rivers—benefits including reduced stress and anxiety, improved sleep, and generally a healthier and more active lifestyle.

Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued new rules requiring public companies to enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures. The rules phase in over time, requiring the largest companies or public investor shares to begin making climate risk disclosures in 2025.

Arizona is at the epicenter of an evolving dynamic that can best be described with a phrase uttered by a panelist at ULI Arizona’s Trends Day 2024—disruption equals opportunity.

The Dasha River Ecological Corridor focuses on the ecological restoration project in the Nanshan district of Shenzhen, China. The project, led by China Resources Land and master planned by AECOM, aims to restore the watercourse that connects the coastal Nanshan district to the northern mountainous area of the city.

Program to combine in-depth real estate value chain expertise with key leadership skills.

For months, if not years, panic-inducing headlines have lamented the existential crisis facing the U.S. office market as a “wall of maturities” looms: $2.2 trillion of commercial real estate debt coming due between now and the end of 2027, according to Trepp estimates.

Since 2022, five ULI district councils—ULI Colorado, ULI Los Angeles, ULI New York, ULI Louisiana, and ULI Philadelphia—have participated in a long-term effort to tackle climate resilience, equity, and land use issues through the second Resilient Land Use Cohort (RLUC2), hosted by ULI’s Urban Resilience program.

The latest troubles at New York Community Bank have some observers wondering whether it could be a canary in the coal mine for the broader regional banking sector. Regional banks are definitely in a tough spot due to deposit flight, higher funding costs, and concerns about problematic commercial real estate loans. But, at least for now, troubles seem to be limited to a few isolated cases, rather than systemic.

The 2024 Terwilliger Center Home Attainability Index (HAI) features a full set of interactive data visualization tools that can help ULI members unpack housing challenges nationwide and specifically for their locale.

California’s recent landmark legislation on climate disclosure, passed in fall 2023, will drive new evolution in real estate reporting on climate risk and provide more public insight than ever into the industry’s impact on climate change.

As office values have declined, it’s created a pivotal moment for astute investors and developers as they evaluate the underlying land value and look for the best property uses over the long term. Indeed, there is latent potential in the evolving office landscapes, but a keen and studied eye will be required to discern the true opportunities from the potential money pits.

The strain of higher interest rates is creating sleepless nights for some commercial real estate owners and operators these days. On the flip side, there is significant capital eagerly lining up to take advantage of market dislocation.

AUSTIN—Despite rumblings to the contrary, the American dream of homeownership is not a fading relic from the nation’s Post World War II era. In fact, homeownership remains a key lever to elevate families from generational poverty to the middle class, according to two of the nation’s top leaders in the housing industry.

AUSTIN—Austin, a tech hub that has become one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation, has grown wider, longer, taller, and denser. And there’s hope that it may become more closely knitted together via an upcoming massive transportation project that could bring more cohesion between affluent areas and traditionally underserved neighborhoods.

Private enterprise that fails to strategize growth is likely to decline and be usurped by more deliberate competitors. Governments that introduce new policies without ensuring there are enough staff or resources to uphold them won’t be able to put them into practice. Faced with the imperative to run lean but remain agile, many organizations are seeking ways to integrate digital tools powered by generative AI into their workflows to innovate and help alleviate accumulated organizational debt.

AUSTIN – The nation’s housing market may show a slight uptick this year, but for millions of Americans spanning the great gulf of home affordability will remain impossible, according to opening day speakers at the 2024 ULI Housing Opportunity Conference, which drew more than 500 attendees.

During the summer of 1910, W. Ashbie Hawkins, an African American lawyer, purchased a home at 1834 McCulloh Street, an affluent—and all-white—neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland. He rented the home to his law partner (and brother-in-law), George McMechen, an African American graduate of Yale Law School.

A tsunami of emptying houses of worship—up to 100,000, according to one religious source—is washing across America. Developing intelligent reuses and redevelopments for these properties will make the difference between a community flourishing and struggling. Housing advocates view underused faith properties as natural sites to develop projects that help close the great national gap on affordable housing.

Uncertainty around asset prices likely to slow transactions.

ULI Asia Pacific report builds the business case.