Insights Search

As a real estate professional, you can’t avoid it—everyone is talking about data centers. Without a doubt, it is the most exciting sector for real estate investment in 2025. Over the past week, I’ve had six in-depth conversations with experts and pored over hundreds of pages of research from real estate advisory firms, Wall Street analysts, credit rating agencies, technology blogs, and newspapers. While a short piece cannot fully do justice to this fascinating, interdisciplinary topic, I will attempt to distill key insights and open questions worth considering. A list of references for further reading appears at the end.

Professor Parinitha (Pari) Sastry is an assistant professor of finance at Columbia Business School. Her research focuses on climate change, financial intermediation, and real-estate markets. She received her B.A. from Columbia University and her finance Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has worked previously at the Department of Treasury, Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, Brookings Institution, and New York Fed. 

There is a lot of chatter in the housing world right now about what the Trump administration’s plans are with respect to housing policy, but one thing is clear - there has not been this much attention paid to housing and this much potential for favorable housing legislation and deregulation in a long time. This is the first time the President has been a lifelong real estate developer who appreciates the challenges of regulation and who is a big believer in private sector engagement. Recent reports that the Trump Administration is seeking significant cuts to the HUD workforce have engendered concern from some Democrats, but in my view, the environment for positive change will not get better than it is right now. Time is of the essence.

Alexander Bodini Foundation Prizes Awarded to Top Four Teams of Real Estate Capstone Course

On April 22, 2025, the Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate hosted an insightful panel moderated by center co-director Professor Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, featuring industry leaders Nasir Alamgir (Barings), Richard Cantor (Moody’s Investor Services), and Catherine Chen (Apollo Global Management). Below we summarize key insights on the evolving relationship between insurance companies, private equity (PE) asset managers, and commercial real estate lending that emerged from the panel discussion.

Your Google search for “climate change” may show emotional images — or calm, scientific visuals — depending on where you are. A new CBS study reveals how search algorithms shape climate perceptions worldwide.

Chris Levesque, President and CEO of TerraPower, explains how next-generation reactors and innovative energy storage are reshaping nuclear energy's role in the global transition to sustainability.

Tom Steyer, co-executive chair at Galvanize Climate Solutions, discusses how innovation, policy, and collective action can win the climate war.

Columbia University's Data Science Institute explores AI's role in healthcare, focusing on supporting clinical judgment while prioritizing equity and human experience. The article highlights how AI can enhance data collection for chronic conditions, optimize fair staffing in emergency departments, and identify structural inequities in care access, emphasizing that AI models must align with real-world healthcare contexts.