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NEW YORK CITY-CB Richard Ellis's Jeffrey Dunne said he's seeing themes crop up again and again. First, the holding period for real estate is getting shorter and shorter each year. "The cycle is much quicker," he said during a capital markets outlook at the Urban Land Institute's first Regional Trends Conference. The event was jointly organized by ULI New York, ULI Northern New Jersey and ULI Westchester/Fairfield.

"Buyers are more selective with their time and willing to pay premium for assets," he added. Another theme is that lenders are playing a more important role in the bidding process. He noted that his "rolodex has changed. There are so many new buyers. The buyer list is so deep." He added that one new class of investor is the TIC environment. "Who knew who TICs were five years ago?"

Similar sentiments were echoed by fellow panel member Robert Verrone of Wachovia Securities. "Debt is everywhere. Lenders are really scraping on every deal and probably lending too much." As an example, he cited the recent $3.2-billion Blackstone/Wynham deal, which had a $2.8-billion debt placement.