Here are some of the stories we’ve been following this week.

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  • For the first time in five years, not a single trophy property in Sydney, Australia was sold to a foreign buyer. Analysts believe recent tax increases are keeping away buyers from other countries.
  • The Illinois Attorney General filed a lawsuit to require a gas station owner to monitor groundwater for contamination following a recent gasoline leak.
  • A lead remediation bill in New Hampshire faces opposition over a provision that would change millions in grants into limited loan guarantees that would be spread across more properties.
  • Ohio is suing a pipeline company, alleging the company dumped contaminants into the state’s waterways.
  • Congress continues to debate the future of the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, but developers are not waiting around and are instead working to expand and promote EB-5 projects.
  • Property owners throughout Texas and Florida are beginning to rebuild following the summer’s hurricanes. Insurance companies expect an increase in construction defect claims to be filed during this time as well.
  • Legislators in Missouri are considering a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour.
  • China’s sovereign wealth fund is partnering with Goldman Sachs to launch a $5 billion fund to give U.S. companies better access to China.
  • Remediation is set to begin at the site of a former gas processing plant in Michigan. Officials discovered last year that chemicals from the plant, which was decommissioned in 2015, contaminated nearby soil and groundwater.