Top regions for development forecast

San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and New York are the nation's five top metropolitan areas with the best conditions for large-scale real estate development, according to a study by Urban Investment and Development Company, a Chicago real estate development firm.

The study used 64 economic, population, business, and real estate indicators to rank the nation's 33 most populous metropolitan areas in seven major categories: economic growth, retail activity, office market, hotel market, housing market, central business district, and quality of life.