According to research by Marcus & Millichap, the accelerating U.S. economy, supported by strong employment growth and rising confidence levels, bodes well for continued hotel property performance. Elevated consumer and business confidence levels will likely buoy room demand through the remainder of the year, keeping occupancy at a record high and supporting growth in revenue per available room.

Asian outbound capital deployment remains robust amid a recent slowdown of Chinese outbound real estate investment. In the first half of 2018, outbound investment activity totaled US$25.3 billion, led by Singaporean capital, which accounted for 36 percent of the region’s total, according to recent data compiled by CBRE.

Social psychologist and bestselling author Amy Cuddy will give a keynote at the 2018 ULI Fall Meeting. Cuddy is an expert on the behavioral science of power, presence, and prejudice. Cuddy, who teaches leadership at Harvard, earned her PhD from Princeton University and has served on the faculties of Harvard Business School and Northwestern University. Her book Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challengesis a bestseller and has been published in 30 languages.

Demand from growing cloud-computing providers has set the U.S. data center market on pace to break 2017’s record leasing activity, according to CBRE’s latest U.S. Data Center Trends Report. Northern Virginia and Phoenix are also seeing significant new construction to meet demand.

In July, real estate website Curbed highlighted nine significant projects including the Hub on Causeway and Fenway Center, plus two projects in the Seaport area. Several of these will be highlighted either as tours or sessions at the ULI Fall Meeting in Boston in October.

The Dodge Momentum Index, a leading indicator for construction spending for nonresidential buildings, moved 1.4 percent higher in July to 169.8 from the revised June reading of 167.3. The commercial component of the Momentum Index grew by 3.3 percent, while the institutional component fell 1.5 percent.

Affordable and workforce housing policies and programs put in place by the governments of New York City, Los Angeles County, and the states of New Jersey and New York have been selected as finalists for the 2018 ULI Larson Housing Policy Leadership Award. The annual award, presented by ULI’s Terwilliger Center for Housing, recognizes innovative ways the public sector is addressing the nation’s affordable housing crisis.

Hong Kong Central remained the most expensive office market in the world, according to CBRE’s annual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costsreport. Hong Kong Central’s overall prime occupancy costs of US$307 per square foot (US$3,305 per sq m) per year topped the “most expensive” list, followed by London’s West End, Beijing’s Finance Street, and Hong Kong’s Kowloon.

The new members of ULI’s Americas Executive Committee are Clare De Briere, founder, C+C Ventures in Los Angeles and chairman of ULI Los Angeles; Sharmil Modi, principal, Modi Adventureprises, Boston; Daniel Neidich, chief executive officer, Dune Real Estate Partners LP, New York City; Leslie Woo, chief planning and development officer, Metrolinx, Toronto; and Jonathan Brinsden, chief executive officer, Midway Companies, Houston.

Prime logistics rents increased globally during the 12 months ended March 31, accelerating their growth in many markets due to strengthening economies around the world and greater demand for distribution of goods bought both online and in stores, according to a report from CBRE. Prime rrents increased by 3.2 percent across the globe in this year’s first quarter from a year earlier, exceeding the previous 12-month period’s 2.2 percent global increase.