This week’s round-up explores President Joe Biden’s recent State of the Union address and plans for the Build America, Buy America Act, the feasibility of real estate companies achieving their ESG goals, and how developers, lenders, and tenants are partnering with universities to solve real estate challenges.

• During his annual State of the Union address, President Joe Biden detailed his Build America, Buy America plans and standard to require all construction materials on federal infrastructure projects to be made in the United States. (Jennifer Goodman & Zachary Phillips, Construction Dive)
• Speculation surrounding the economic environment and real estate stability is testing the feasibility and resilience of the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) framework used by corporations to measure their societal impact. (Anna Staropoli, Commercial Observer)
• Adopting Web3 and decentralization in the real estate industry is projected to bring about significant changes and improvements. (David Bitton, Forbes)
• The Urban Land Institute (ULI) published a Global Sustainability Outlook report for 2023 to share insights on the key environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues that will impact strategic real estate and land use decision-making this year. (Urban Land Institute)
• The next step in the development of technology solutions for some of real estate’s most complex issues could occur in the halls of academia, a sector with little previous association with the world’s largest industry. (Philip Russi, Commercial Observer)
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) is speculated to be the foundation of proptech’s next investment wave and impact material use cases in real estate tech, from search and listings to mortgages, construction and sustainability. (Kunal Lunawat, TechCrunch)

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