With the climate-change agenda a high priority, market-led solutions to facilitate green retrofits are emerging in Europe—though a centralized approach to promote improvement works is still to come. By 2050, EU targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent compared to 1990 levels. The market for green retrofits is therefore seen as a major growth area across Europe.

Under past chairman Jeremy Newsum’s leadership, ULI has rallied together, and, through the process of asking some tough questions, members have raised their collective view about what the Institute can accomplish. Read about three significant advances made at ULI during Newsum’s two-year tenure.

Five commercial/retail development experts discuss the sector, examining the near-term prospects for development and financing, strategies for making retail centers thrive, and the impact of online retailers and social media. Read where current growth is in the sector, and how big-box facilities are being reconfigured to meet the shift in demand.

As the economy recovers, an enduring shift is taking place in the retail landscape. Hard-hit by the severe economic downturn, the huge baby boomer generation is not likely to lead a spending revival the way it did after previous recessions. Instead, the more important demographic will be generation Y. Learn the surprising impact this could have for a much maligned format—the enclosed mall.

The government has two sets of mortgage loan limits—one for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which help keep local lenders flush with cash by purchasing their loans and packaging them into securities for sale to investors worldwide, and another for the FHA, which insures mortgages against default. Read what will happen when the temporary federal mortgage ceilings revert to lower levels on October 1.

Traditional lending sources such as commercial banks are returning to the marketplace and alternative methods of financing are becoming more available to real estate entrepreneurs—signaling that the credit crunch that has plagued the real estate industry over the past 18 months is easing. Read what experts say about banks and investment firms that are looking to place debt capital in real estate.

Home sales are falling again, and home prices dropped to a post-recession low in the first quarter. Nevertheless, the homebuilding industry may be turning a corner, especially in southern metro areas.

Lenders are expected to move increasingly up the risk continuum this year due to a need for yield and the perceived value that commercial mortgages offer compared with other fixed-rate alternatives. Learn about the three primary types of commercial real estate assets the increased liquidity is expected to seek.

Are the GSEs—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—careening toward obsolescence, taking the traditional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with them? The Obama administration may gradually wind down Fannie and Freddie until they are mere figments of their former selves at the end of five to seven years, if they survive at all. Read what industry experts have to say about this divisive issue.

With 300-plus days of sunshine a year, Phoenix is becoming a center for solar innovation, with developers and cities alike taking the renewable-energy push to new heights. Read how residential, commercial, and industrial developers there are incorporating new technologies—from films and window systems to concentrated dishes that are not much bigger than a computer monitor—into their developments.