Private capital buyers will be competing more aggressively with the publicly-traded firms this year for trophy properties now that interest rates have dropped and the supply of prime development sites is dwindling, the study notes.

For example, private buyers made up 69% of the market last year; pension funds and public companies comprised 22%; and REITs accounted for 9%. Foreign investment was shut out.

Although investment sales in 2000 were off nearly 50% from 1998 levels, Robert W. Miller, senior vice president in the Orlando office of CB Richard Ellis, tells GlobeSt.com, "Orlando's multihousing market is fundamentally sound." He says the area's diverse economic base created 41,400 new jobs last year, up 4.5%, and that's why he remains bullish on this market.