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NEW YORK — Chinese direct investment in U.S. real estate has grown dramatically since 2010, according to a new report compiled by Rosen Consulting Group (RCG) and New York-based Asia Society, a nonprofit education organization. The report, titled “Breaking Ground: Chinese Investment in U.S. Real Estate,” provides a comprehensive analysis of Chinese inbound investment in all areas of U.S. real estate. “This wave of investment is coming from diverse sources in China,” says Arthur Margon, a partner at RCG and one of the authors of the report. “But that’s really a small piece of the potential investor universe.” More than any foreign investor other than Canada, China stands out for the breadth, depth and speed of its participation in the U.S. real estate market. Following negligible investment activity from 2005 to 2009, in 2010 Chinese acquisitions of existing U.S. commercial real estate assets surged to $585 million and has increased exponentially since then. Chinese investors acquired over $17.1 billion of existing commercial property between 2010 and 2015, representing an annual growth rate of 70 percent, according to the report. Half of that investment came in 2015 alone. Penchant for Office Space, Hotels  While the majority of commercial real estate transaction volume between …

A modest pullback by U.S employers in April doesn’t signal an end to the recent trend of strong job creation, but it adds to a string of subpar economic reports, says Robert Bach, director of research for the Americas at brokerage firm Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported a net gain of 160,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in April, well below the 200,000 jobs projected in Bloomberg’s survey of economists. What’s more, the increase in total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised from 245,000 to 233,000, and from 215,000 to 208,000 in March. That means the U.S economy added 19,000 fewer jobs in February and March than first believed. The nation’s real gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annualized rate of only 0.5 percent during the first three months of 2016, Bach points out, the weakest quarterly pace in two years. Weaker than expected retail sales, softness in business capital expenditures and a pullback in corporate earnings also have raised some red flags. “Taken together, these data points confirm the economy is navigating a soft patch that merits close observation in the months ahead, particularly with the added uncertainty created by the November …

NEW YORK CITY — After a 13 percent jump in February, the pace of new construction starts in March across all real estate sectors fell by 1 percent, according to New York-based data firm Dodge Data & Analytics. The data is based on groundbreakings nationwide and uses the estimated construction costs of each project. Construction starts in March totaled a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $660.5 billion, down from $667.6 billion in February. The lift in February was largely fueled by utilities and public works, according to Dodge. While that construction activity pulled back in March, other commercial real estate sectors filled the bulk of the gap. If electric and gas plants are excluded, the total for March actually rose 4 percent versus February. The report also notes that March was well above the previous seven months, when new construction hit a temporary slump. “While March construction activity was down slightly from February, it stayed above the lackluster performance witnessed during the second half of last year that continued through January,” says Robert Murray, chief economist for Dodge. Big Lift in Certain Sectors Some sectors even saw a massive spike in new construction starts. Transit buildings, for example, shot up …

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the Entertainment Experience Evolution conference in Los Angeles. This is a relatively new event, focusing on retail and mixed-use destinations with entertainment components as an amenity for retail developments. What was truly interesting is that this conference was not just about adding something fun for guests; it was a profound discussion about the future of retail centers — repositioning existing facilities that are struggling, and finding the “it” factor for new projects. Many industry leaders, including my colleagues from FRCH, presented innovative ideas and perspectives at the event. As retail experts, designers and architects, we spend a great deal of effort taking the pulse of retail in the U.S. and across the globe, evaluating the needs of our guests, macro trends and the overall state of the industry. The general consensus for the future combats old formulas from the past. We know that a development anchored by a grocery or department store simply doesn’t translate positively with consumers in the age of e-commerce. The focus of discussion was on new ways of drawing guests, and on the need for every development to be local, unique and adapted to its immediate environment. While this …