Each year, the Emerging Trends in Real Estate report from ULI (Urban Land Institute) and PwC provides a great look into regional growth trends.

The 2018 report is as useful and packed with insights as in years past. I think we all know that we are in a mature, post-recession market. This means greater stability as the real estate development industry considers the lessons learned of eight years ago and has adopted caution as “the new norm.” Today projects are taking a little more time to develop and secure financing. On the engineering and planning side, there is more up-front due diligence on projects, and there are more deliverable checkpoints designed to control costs and reduce risk while still driving schedules. All good practices.

The types of projects we are seeing are evolving as well: the report indicates that hot project types include urban mixed-use properties, data centers, and infrastructure. On the development side, there are fewer and fewer green-field sites, and many are developing in the urban core with higher density, mixed-use projects. Infrastructure projects are needed across the board to make development viable by building utilities and roadways to deliver services and make properties accessible.