Economists see a pretty good year ahead for real estate, despite a weak world economy. “The data [are] good, but we all feel this uncertainty,” said Jeffrey Havsy, chief economist, Americas, CBRE Econometric Advisors. He spoke at a panel discussion of the semiannual ULI Real Estate Consensus Forecast, as part of a members only webinar.

It could be a bumpy first half of the year for retail real estate: Despite continued improvement in key fundamentals and a strengthening U.S. economy, the retail sector is bracing for a bigger shake-out in store closures in the next few months.

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.

Japan and Australia remain the favorite countries for investment and development, according to Emerging Trends in Real Estate^® Asia Pacific 2016, with Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne, and Osaka taking four of the top five spots in the Asia Pacific region.

U.S. multifamily has been outperforming other sectors for much of the recession recovery period and enjoying unprecedented capital investment flows from around the globe.

Densification is the key to responding to population growth, economic changes, new lifestyle preferences, and the sustainability imperative in European cities, according to a new report by ULI and TH Real Estate. The Density Dividend: Solutions for Growing and Shrinking Citiesdraws from the experience of six European cities at various stages of population change and makes clear that many cities have little choice but to densify.

The latest issue of Urban Landis now available for download via the app. If you have not downloaded it before, you can do so now at no charge. The cover package for this issue is titled “Crafting Authenticity: Designing retail spaces that consumers embrace.”

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.

Disruptive forces created by climate change represent the “new normal” for the real estate industry and cities worldwide, posing “huge risks” to those not adequately preparing for it, warned a panel of experts at the ULI Europe Annual Conference in Paris in early February.

Speakers at a concurrent session on the creative reuse of aging infrastructure added three case studies to the growing list of success stories, including Chicago’s MetraMarket, Buffalo’s Erie Canal, and Hollywood Park in Los Angeles.