According to authors Ray Tomalty and Alan Mallach, U.S. cities should look to Canada for ways to make our urban areas more livable and sustainable.

The overwhelming majority of hotel real estate investment trusts (REITs) are trading at prices that represent discounts to their net asset value, as has been the case for more than a year now. The thinking in some circles is that the hotel sector is approaching its cyclical peak. Plus, interest rate survey data from Trepp.

The current real estate cycle is maturing after more than seven years of expansion. Real estate investment trusts in all sectors are responding to market conditions by selling more properties than they are buying and by recycling capital to fund new development and redevelopment. Plus, interest rate survey data from Trepp.

The finalists for this year’s ULI Robert C. Larson Housing Policy Leadership Awards include Arlington County, Virginia, the City of Chicago, Illinois, New York City, and the State of Iowa.

Real estate fundamentals and real estate investment trust performance benefited from positive economic news during May. Retail sales experienced their biggest increase in a year with a 1.3 percent jump during April, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the pace of both new-home sales and home resales accelerated during April. The positive news was tempered by a worse-than-expected April jobs report as the brisk hiring of the first quarter slowed.

Joel Kotkin, a fellow in urban studies at Chapman University in Orange, California, whose previous works include The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050and The New Class Conflict, in his latest book challenges the claimed advantages of high-density, “pack and stack” urban development.

Memorial Day unofficially kicks off the busy summer travel season, and this summer is shaping up to be the busiest travel season in years. Despite the bright outlook for summer travel, almost five months into the year, year-to-date lodging sector real estate investment trust (REIT) returns measured –2.93 percent. Plus, interest rate survey data from Trepp.

Panelists at the recent ULI Japan Conference in Tokyo said that even a mature market such as Japan offers significant opportunities, due to a program of public/private partnerships designed to ease the burden on the state, but a $1 trillion “infrastructure gap” exists worldwide.

Speaking at the ULI Spring Meeting in Philadelphia, William McNabb, chairman and CEO of Vanguard, shares his thoughts on systemic risk for financial institutions, two-factor authentication, and what keeps him up at night.

The White House Conference on Resilient Building Codes, held recently in Washington, D.C., is expected to raise awareness of the critical need for building codes to encourage urban development that is more resilient to the impacts of climate change. The event featured a discussion by Obama administration officials and public and private sector representatives of the key role of building codes in furthering community resilience.