Realvest founder George D. Livingston projects 2005 will be even better. "The last three years have been really bad ones for the commercial real estate industry," he tells GlobeSt.com. "In the Central Florida market and nationwide, the vacancy in office buildings is really high and [only] just now recovering."

He says low interest rates are "the biggest difference between this recession and the last major recession in the 1980's. In the 1980's, the market fell off and interest rates skyrocketed, driving many commercial property owners into default and Chapter 11." But this recession is different, he says. "Even with a low occupancy rate, most developers and landlords are able to hold onto their assets."

The retail and residential sectors are "the engines driving the commercial real estate economy," Livingston tells GlobeSt.com. For example, he says "you've got land zoned for office and industrial that's not selling, and it's starting to be zoned back to residential to meet the market demands."