The National Association of Realtors Commercial Real Estate Quarterly provided market sector forecasts for this year for five major commercial sectors. For the office market, Boston ranked number one with Newark, NJ, Austin, TX and New York City behind. Boston also ranked number one in the multifamily market followed by Los Angeles, Detroit and Minneapolis. In the warehouse market Boston ranked number three, with Phoenix and San Francisco ranking numbers one and two. Boston also ranked number three in the lodging market behind San Diego and New York City.

"When you compare rent growth to last year, it is definitely lower, but we are forecasting a slower economy," Sigrid Fennemore, a senior economist at the NAR, tells GlobeSt.com. "Boston is a very resilient market in that given the backdrop of the slower economy, rent growth is still strong." Fennemore points out that compared to last year's booming economy, all performances are slower. Last year's Real Growth Domestic Product was 5% while the Real Growth Domestic Product for 2001 is estimated to be 2.7%.

"Boston is a little slower than in the past year, but compared to other markets, it is still outperforming the rest of the country," notes Fennemore who adds that the premise for this forecast is the strong local economy--specifically the employment rate. Personal income here is one of the highest in the nation, which also demonstrates that the indicators are very strong here, according to Fennemore. "We are estimating that it is still one of the best markets," she says.