The Week In News, But Shorter
May 18 – 24, 2026

A Weekly PropTech Newsletter bringing you industry updates from across the real estate spectrum

We appreciate our international subscribers for this one day delay in your inbox and we hope our U.S.-based readers enjoyed a long Memorial Day Weekend!

A new CRE Industry Pulse Check report from First American Data & Analytics and DealGround found that two-thirds (66%) of Commercial Real Estate executives use AI weekly or daily, but only 5% trust it enough to inform commercial real estate deal decisions. And while this isn’t wholly surprising since executive decisions – especially when it comes to deals – can be high-stakes, it presents a huge opportunity. Cleaning up your data, introducing the right technologies and partnering with the right vendors can help build the systems needed to build trust, and ultimately bring to life the real value within AI. Yes, we think lots of other use-cases are worth exploring too, but if AI can start to take on some of the bigger decisions, then you have a true value unlock.

This week the delivery wars seem to be a “thing” again, with speed being king yet again. Also, a new report from our friends at Coresight Research is also worth a look, and we were intrigued to learn that an Emirati shopping mall, retail, and leisure conglomerate is giving startups and small business access to their data. Did you miss us at ICSC Las Vegas last week? Send us a message on LinkedIn and we can catch up virtually.

Digital Meets Physical

AI Is Reshaping How Diners Discover Restaurants, DoorDash Study Finds [QSR] 22% of consumers have used an AI tool like ChatGPT or Google Gemini to help choose a restaurant, making AI a new discovery signal to watch as consumers use these tools to find something new, compare nearby options, and search by cuisine, occasion, or value.

Walmart and Amazon race to win over rural America with speedier deliveries [Associated Press] Walmart and Amazon are racing to speed up online order deliveries in rural areas of the U.S., a rich source of untapped sales that major retailers long wrote off as too sparsely inhabited, too remote or too impoverished to serve profitably.

Walmart pilots small depots for faster delivery [Retail Insight Network] Walmart is converting vacant retail spaces into compact, neighbourhood-level stockrooms designed to accelerate home delivery across the US.

Target expanding next-day delivery [Chain Store Age] Target Corp. continues spreading the availability of next-day delivery for online orders. By the end of spring 2026, 60% of the U.S. population will have access to next-day delivery of online Target orders. Customers in more than 50 top U.S. metro areas will be able to get their purchases delivered next day.

Retailers keep tinkering with their AI shopping assistants, in search of better service [MarketWatch] While seemingly every retail executive has talked up their efforts to embrace artificial intelligence over the past few years, actual help from AI assistants remains glitchy. Retailers are increasingly focused on trying to make the bots better.

AI referrals make shoppers more likely to either return — or never come back [RetailDive] AI-powered discovery creates a dynamic in which customers are more willing to make repeat purchases but are much less tolerant of bad experiences.

PropTalk

Survey: AI trust lags for decision making among CRE execs [Chain Store Age] Commercial real estate professionals are using artificial intelligence on a consistent basis – but not when it comes to the decision making process. According to the new CRE Industry Pulse Check report , two-thirds (66%) of executives use AI weekly or daily, but only 5% trust it enough to inform commercial real estate deal decisions.

Spaced Out: Tight availability shifts leverage back to landlords [Chain Store Age] Early 2025 was a positive time for retailers looking to expand their footprints, but things have since reverted back to a landlord’s market. Notable bankruptcy filings of late 2024 and early 2025 included Party City, Joann, Big Lots, Forever 21 and others, and provided a much-needed 12.5 million square feet of retail space to the commercial market at the beginning of last year, according to CoStar’s data at the time.

Shoppers’ Frenzy for ‘Royal Pop’ Pocket Watches Forces Swatch to Shut Stores [The New York Times] The Swiss watchmaker Swatch closed dozens of its stores on Saturday as vast crowds lined up to attempt to snag Royal Pop pocket watches from its collaboration with the luxury timepiece maker Audemars Piguet.

Claire’s eyes expansion to 7K retail locations [RetailDive] Claire’s entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Centric Brands. The deal allows Claire’s to expand “into new categories and more than 7,000 additional retail touch points across North America.” Centric Brands will scale the Claire’s brand with retail partners such as Walmart, Kohl’s and CVS across the United States and Canada.

Majid Al Futtaim gives 27 UAE startups free access to malls and stores [Arabian Business] Majid Al Futtaim has launched a new platform designed to help UAE startups and creative small businesses scale faster by giving them complimentary access to major malls, retail stores and entertainment destinations.

The American Mall Renaissance: A Bifurcated Sector with Top-Tier Assets Leading the Way [Coresight Research] American malls are entering a structurally stronger phase, with improving occupancy, rents and net operating income (NOI), although this growth is increasingly concentrated in top-tier, well-located assets. These malls stand to benefit from a tight supply of new space, sustained retailer demand for prime locations and the ability to backfill vacant areas with more productive tenants.