ULI Real Estate Economic Forecast
Developers have been confronting several challenges in terms of supply, demand, and costs that are making it more difficult to break ground on new projects. Yet the total dollar value of overall construction starts is expected to grow 4 percent, to $1.26 trillion, in 2026, according to Dodge Construction Network. Industry experts share their view on where things will shake out as new projects gear up for 2026.
Economic forecasters gathered on Thursday, November 6, at the ULI Fall Meeting at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco to analyze the current landscape and future expectations for the economy. The ULI Real Estate Economic Forecast, a semiannual survey of leading industry experts, served as the backdrop for discussions about how 33 key economic and real estate indicators are projected to move by the end of 2025, 2026, and 2027.
The hotel industry in the United States faces complex challenges in 2025, according to Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality analytics for the CoStar Group. During the “State of the U.S. Hotel Industry” presentation at the ULI 2025 Spring Meeting in Denver, Colorado, Freitag highlighted the challenges facing the hotel business amid macroeconomic uncertainty.
From apartment buildings rising in shopping center parking lots to the redevelopment of dead-mall sites as housing, retail-to-residential conversions are an increasing trend.
