On the other hand, lenders are beginning to scrutinize assets more he says. That is making class A properties even more attractive, while class B buildings are tougher to finance and class C buildings extremely difficult to get loans on.

This is also a rare time that could prove to be a win for buyers, too, he notes. That's because office investors are forecasting aggressive spikes in rents, as little supply is being added to the market, because rents are not high enough to justify construction.

Pride notes that retail is still the preferred investment property type. One thing, he says, is that everyone can relate to retail because everyone shops at grocery stores and department stores, making it particularly attractive to relatively novice investors. Many of them are investing in increasingly popular tenant-in-common vehicles, he notes.

Another advantage to retail is that tenant improvements are typically a fraction of what is required for office tenants, and retail tenants typically pay all the costs of utilities, so rising energy prices aren't a huge factor for the landlord.

And prices for retail are escalating, he notes. Just a year or so ago, he says, he had a hard time telling investors that a retail property was being listed at $250 per sf. "Now, $300- to $400-per-sf sales are not uncommon for retail strip centers," he says.

Devereaux says another thing that is making Denver especially popular among national investors is that the local job growth and unemployment trends are outpacing the national economy. "It's not by much," he notes, but it is still a selling point. Devereaux says that private capital is now accounting for 50% of all the transactions.

Pride says that it will be hard for 2006--or any year in the near future--to top the sales posted this year. Even though he expects sales to remain strong, sales volume will be limited because much of the product will already have traded hands with groups that plan to own the real estate for a reasonable holding period.