Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
In our latest roundup, construction output decreased, office utilization unchanged, September apartment starts fell 15% from a year ago as developers pulled permits, and more!
- Developers pulled permits for a seasonally adjusted rate of 398,000 apartments in buildings with five units or more, a 17.4% YOY drop and a 10.8% decrease compared to August 2024. (Leslie Shaver, Multifamily Dive)
- Construction input prices decreased 0.9% in September due to dips in two of three energy subcategories, reflecting the trend of overall material price stabilization over the past 12 months. (Sebastian Obando, Construction Dive)
- Thanks in part to the Federal Reserve’s lowering of the interest rate, construction backlog rebounded in September after slumping at the end of the summer. (Joe Bousquin, Construction Dive)
- The split incentive gap — where landlords and developers foot the bill for building energy efficiency upgrades, while tenants benefit from lower energy costs — remains a key barrier to decarbonizing buildings. (Nish Amarnath, SmartCities Dive)
- The Federal Reserve began its interest rate cutting cycle in September, lowering the Fed funds rate for the first time since 2020 by 50 basis points, giving interest rate-sensitive sectors such as commercial real estate, long-awaited positive momentum. (Paulina Likos, CNBC)
- Despite the attention garnered by return-to-office mandates from prominent companies, office utilization has remained largely unchanged. (Michael Gerrity, World Property Journal)
- As demand for mandatory ESG reporting grows, the commercial real estate sector is pivoting toward sustainability. (Felicia Jackson, Forbes)