Development in most markets today is challenging, except for possibly multifamily and medical office properties, Saturno says. “People are still uncertain about the underlying fundamentals of their business,” he says. “However, we’re seeing good apartment projects in markets such as Austin, TX, where we see a lot of population growth, and people don’t have a lot of money to put down a down-payment. We’ve actually seen rents increase in markets like these, we’re not seeing that in other property sectors.”

He says health care companies are also looking to do new projects, as doctors look to create smaller buildings to cut down on costs. Industrial has been doing well in some markets, such as southern California, but mostly build-to-suit projects are the only property going up.

The Midwest will have a tough road ahead for growth, Saturno says. The population base is large, but not moving upward enough for future investment, and cap rates will suffer as owners will need to get higher rents for the same returns as other markets. “We’re just not seeing the population growth as in Texas or the coastal markets,” he says. “In the long term, if you don’t have population and job growth, there’s going to be less demand for industrial and office product than in the past.”

However, he says there’s a good amount of capital looking for core product, and pricing is now aggressive in Chicago. “If you’re an active industrial buyer, Chicago is still one of your top five markets, with its access to rail lines, infrastructure and a large part of the Midwest,” Saturno says.