Houston Named Nation’s Top Emerging Industrial Market

Construction contracts are landing in court more often — and at higher dollar figures — than ever before, as runaway costs and pressure to build faster have led to a spike in disputes.

The average value of construction disputes in North American courts was $42.8M at the end of 2022, up from $30.1M the prior year, the highest value ever recorded and double the averages between 2016 and 2019, according to a study released by the engineering consulting firm Arcadis.

The number of lawsuits over construction projects also is expected to accelerate this year, according to Arcadis, which surveyed more than 500 construction, real estate and legal professionals.

The jump in disputed amounts is part of a larger maelstrom directly related to the coronavirus pandemic, said Eric Schatz, vice president at Arcadis and one of the authors of the firm’s 13th annual construction dispute report. As construction projects have grown in size and complexity, the window for disputes to…

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As hurricane season kicks off and the Northeast emerges from a haze of choking wildfire smoke, the impacts of climate change on people and property alike are once again at the front of mind for many, and new analyses from CoreLogic shed more light on which specific regions of the U.S. are most at risk over the next 30 years.

The Southwest and Rocky Mountain West are home to the least risky areas with respect to climate change, in spite of wildfires and an evaporating supply of water, according to CoreLogic. On the flip side, low-lying areas like Louisiana and Florida are the riskiest, threatened by hurricanes and angry rivers.

Data sets like these are increasingly factored into decision-making at the top levels of major U.S. investors as they seek to avoid property damage and find places where they can still get insurance, and at an affordable price.  “There has certainly been an increase in firms factoring physical and transition…

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