The poor showing in the industrial market can be traced to high unemployment. In first quarter 2010, the unemployment rate was 12.4% in Palm Beach County, the highest in South Florida. The unemployment rate for the state was 12.2%, higher than the national average of 10.4%. A lot of this can be attributed to layoffs in the construction industry. There were 22,400 construction jobs lost in South Florida from January 2009 to January 2010, according to the Associated General Contractors Association.

While there is a lot of bad news in Palm Beach County, first quarter leasing activity totaled approximately 145,300 square feet, according to CB Richard Ellis. This represents an increase of 13.2% over the same quarter the year before.

According to CB Richard Ellis Econometric Advisors, one of the main reasons that the recovery of the commercial real estate market has been slow in coming is that small and medium sized banks still struggle with construction loans which have gone bad. Rather than resolving these problems these banks have continued to "extend and pretend." Meanwhile, the fortunes of large banks have continued to improve. But resolution of the troubled loans on the books of the small and medium sized banks will have to occur before credit availability goes back to normal.