"The number-one ask out there continues to be retail, whether forming a partnership with a public or private company," said John Montaquila, a principal at Chicago-based banking advisory firm Macquarie Capital Partners. Macquarie's parent company, the Australia-based Macquarie Group, has done a number of US shopping center transactions, most recently a $396.2 million joint-venture deal with Developers Diversified Realty to acquire 36 Mervyns department stores.

Australian capital has flowed into the US market, Montaquila explains, because of a recent move by the government Down Under to require citizens to put 9% of their income into savings. "You have a wealthy country that's increasing their savings, and they need a place to invest," he said. Though many of the larger deals have already taken place, Australian groups are still looking to invest as much as $300 million at a time in the US market, Montaquila says.

Glenn Rufrano, CEO of New York City-based New Plan Excel Realty Trust, says that he is still seeing a lot of interest from 1031 groups in the market. Of the $100 million in dispositions his firm will do this year, about 90% will be sold to those types of partnerships.