A renowned global investor and the chairman of ULI Asia Pacific reflects on opportunity and risk in a low-interest-rate environment.

Encouraging economic news released in August heightened the potential that the Fed will increase interest rates. But this good news proved to be a bit too positive, as it may have contributed to a withdrawal in the real estate investment trust sector. Plus, interest rate survey data from Trepp.

Macy’s has announced plans to close 100 of its 675 traditional full-price locations and to increase investment in its online channel, which heightened concern about bricks-and-mortar retail versus e-commerce and led regional mall REITs lower. Plus, interest rate survey data from Trepp.

Transparency in the global real estate sector has improved markedly, according to a recent report produced by JLL and LaSalle Investment Management, with the ten most transparent countries taking 75 percent of global investment volumes.

Even as the broader equity markets fell, real estate investment trusts posted positive returns as economic uncertainty once again took center stage. The Federal Reserve Board’s decision not to raise interest rates this month was good news for REITs in terms of keeping their cost of capital low, but also reflected some weak economic news that could mean economic growth is faltering. Plus, interest rate survey data from Trepp.

AF Bornot Dye Works is a loft apartment and retail project in central Philadelphia that involved the adaptive use and restoration of three timber and concrete factory buildings. The capital stack assembled for this project was unusually complex, partly because of its unusual mix of uses, its location outside the Center City core, and the challenges posed by historic rehabilitation.

As financing for real estate development tightens, institutional equity investors are becoming more selective in their funding, and developers are exploring new market segments such as the over-70 sector, said panelists speaking at the 2016 ULI Spring Meeting.

As the broader stock market has tumbled further, the freestanding retail real estate investment trust (REIT) sector stayed in positive territory for the year. In contrast to the rest of the REIT industry, total REIT returns for this sector are up more than 10 percent so far in 2016. Also known as triple-net-lease REITs, this is one of the smaller REIT sectors by market cap. Plus, interest rate survey data from Trepp.

Health care has been one of the worst-performing sectors for real estate investment trusts this year, with a total year-to-date return of –17.60 percent. This performance has been surprising, since the sector has been a model for growth in prior years. So what has pulled the sector down during 2015? Plus, interest rate survey results from Trepp.

The U.S. real estate market remains awash in foreign capital, but those providing the funds are much more disciplined and better informed than in the past, a panel of real estate finance experts said at the 2015 ULI Spring Meeting in Houston.