Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (05/17/23) – A Flop in Flipping, Plastic Microbes and Psychological Hard Hats
In our latest roundup, we look at a downturn in home-flipping and a continuing overabundance of commercial office space, plus psychological support for construction workers and surging demand for industrial space materials.
- The golden days of home flipping may be coming to an end, as U.S. real estate investors take a hit. (Bethan Moorcraft, Yahoo Finance)
- In a shift, only one in five Americans think it’s a good time to purchase a house. (Alicia Adamczyk, Fortune)
- Empty office towers continue to pose a risk to the economy. (Arezou Rezvani, NPR)
- The Federal Reserve Bank’s vice chair says examiners have stepped up oversight of banks with significant exposure to commercial real estate. (Chris Matthews, MarketWatch)
- For the second consecutive month, annual material prices are trending down. (Sebastian Obando, Construction Dive)
- In Florida, Governor DeSantis has signed a bill banning Chinese citizens from buying land in the state. (Olafimihan Oshin, The Hill)
- The General Services Administration announced new requirements for the procurement of lower carbon construction materials for federal projects. (Andres Picon, Greenwire)
- While in talks with the Canadian government about financial support, automaker Stellantis has stopped construction at its $3.7 billion electric-vehicle battery plant. (Ismail Shakil, Reuters)
- A former construction worker aims to develop training geared at strengthening psychological safety in the construction industry. (Safety+Health)
- In a first, wind becomes the main source of electricity in the UK. (Esme Stallard, BBC)
- Plastic-eating microbes in one of Earth’s coldest regions might help eliminate plastic waste. (Li Cohen, CBS)
- New AI technology will assist Shell in its exploration of deep sea oil. (Stephanie Kelly, Reuters)
- Amid growing government and private demand for industrial space supplies, the space supply chain is transforming. (Miriam Kramer, Axios)
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