Despite improving return-to-office numbers, the office sector still battles numerous challenges that are resulting in higher loan defaults. According to MSCI Real Assets, office leads the charge on rising distress levels, which have not been seen in more than a decade. Office accounts for nearly half of outstanding distress: $51.6 billion in outstanding distress at the end of fourth quarter 2024, and another $74.7 billion in office properties identified as at risk for “potential” distress.

Although ready to commence a new real estate cycle, real estate leaders globally are braced for another challenging year of uncertainty, with lingering inflation, largely driven by factors including geopolitical instability, and persistently higher interest rates in some regions, potentially delaying a hoped-for recovery in capital markets and occupancy metrics. This is according to the Emerging Trends in Real Estate^® Global Outlook 2025 from PwC and ULI, which provides an important gauge of global sentiment for investment and development prospects, amalgamating and updating three regional reports which canvassed thousands of real estate leaders across Europe, the United States and Asia Pacific.

Construction cost inflation continued to moderate in 2024. According to the global construction consulting firm Rider Levett Bucknall, cost inflation for North America increased 1.11 percent in the fourth quarter and rose 4.69 percent on a year-over-year basis. However, the Trump administration’s push for higher tariffs is reigniting concerns around higher costs ahead for real estate developers.

As student housing needs evolve, developers are rethinking design, creating dynamic, experience-driven communities that promote connection and well-being.

In early February 2025, hundreds of stakeholders and real estate professionals gathered at DeSales University for a meeting sponsored by ULI Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley Planning Commission and supported by ULI’s Terwilliger Center for Housing and Lehigh County Commissioners. The first installment of a three-part Technical Assistance Panel (TAP), “Housing Supply and Attainability Strategy in the Lehigh Valley” aimed to open the conversation and further shape the technical assistance work to follow.

10 projects model ways to prepare the built environment for climate stresses and shocks

The recent ULI Carolinas Conference in Charleston offered a glimpse into groundbreaking projects transforming the urban landscapes of North and South Carolina, with developers delivering rapid-fire presentations during the high-energy Crane Watch session. Each presenter shared the vision, challenges, and impacts their projects promise for communities across the Carolinas.

The June 1982 issue of Urban Land. Detroit Mayor Coleman Young, Hamtramck Mayor Robert Kozaren, and General Motors Chairman Roger Smith pose before the remains of Chrysler’s former Dodge Main plant at a formal project groundbreaking in May 1981.

When Ballantyne first emerged out of North Carolina farmland, more than 30 years ago, the original developers of this master-planned project already had a concrete vision in mind for its future: evolution. The development team intrinsically understood that, as Ballantyne—an affluent community nestled in south Charlotte—would expand beyond its farmland roots, the project would need to adapt to meet the needs of a more diverse and changing demographic.

Despite the headwinds to rebuilding quickly and efficiently, just after the worst of the Los Angeles fires, ULI Los Angeles joined UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate and the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate to shape a response plan, created in just six weeks.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is experiencing increased flooding of local streets, even without major rain events or high winds, and residents are demanding answers. While many are calling on the city to elevate certain streets above the floodplain, ULI experts caution this is the least desirable solution because it can have severe negative consequences on nearby homes and businesses.

Within days of the fires, the three institutions formed a Rebuild Advisory Committee. The Project Recovery report, produced by about 100 leading experts in land use, urban planning, and economic development, offers in-depth technical analysis and actionable recommendations to accelerate recovery and build long-term resilience in communities.

In 2014, a ULI Advisory Service panel made recommendations about the future use and preservation of Houston’s Astrodome, among the first indoor sports facilities in the world.

In Jersey City, N.J., commuters recently started using what is believed to be the first moving sidewalk designed as a permanent facility for the large-scale movement of pedestrian traffic.

The reimagining of master-planned communities, cutting-edge data centers, advanced lab spaces, and the new breed of elite hotels were discussed at the 20th ULI Arizona Trends Day.