NEW YORK CITY-Appetite for investments is strong, as capital seeks a home, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s 2011 Spring Capital Markets Overview. The new report indicates that transaction volumes are way up and have risen 43% for Q1 2011, compared to the same period a year ago.

Still, the rise in transactions is no surprise to Jon Caplan, a JLL vice chairman in the New York Capital Markets Group who helped to compile the report. “No we’re actually not surprised by the increase in transaction volume for a couple of reasons,” Caplan says about volume in the New York area. “First, transaction volumes in the previous two years has been inordinately low for New York City. If we look at the 5 year period from 2004 through 2008, we averaged about $28 billion a year in transactions, peaking in 2007 at over $48 million.”

Caplan tells GlobeSt.com that “the amount of capital focused on key gateway cities, such as New York,” where job loss has been less than other areas in the country and where the availability of space has remained tight, has helped to push the transaction volume up. “When you combine these considerations,” he says, “it’s not surprising that transaction volume has increased.”

Nationally, there has been nowhere to go but up, either, says Caplan, who cites 2009 and 2010 as very low volume years.

The report, which was compiled before recent disappointing jobs numbers, remains an accurate predictor of transactions for the remainder of the year, Caplan says. “I think that one jobs report does not make a trend. Unless there is continued negative news on the jobs front, we anticipate the interest in acquiring hard assets such as real estate to continue to grow.”

In terms of what property types are moving in the New York market, Caplan sees diversity. “There have been a number of hotel sales, residential property sales, a couple of notable retail transactions as well as numerous office building sales,” he says. “In terms of closed and under contract, New York City’s volume is up to about $11.7 billion--that’s about $8.7 billion closed and $3 billion under contract.”