The office market has stabilized, with the areas around Metropark and Princeton performing particularly well. Manufacturing also continues to grow, he says, boosting the industrial market. Retail, a major factor in the industrial arena, remains strong in a state that has the highest population density and highest average household income in the United States.

The growth came despite a turbulent 2011 that included gas prices that at times reached $4 per gallon, a debt ceiling debate, the tsunami in Japan, the downgrade of the US debt and an ongoing European debt crisis. Employment growth was the key.

“Last year, the US economy added 1.9 million jobs,” Medina says. “More important, the recovery was widespread.”

As the fourth largest office market, and second or third industrial market in the country, New Jersey followed the same pattern, most recently adding 10,000 jobs in November, the last date for which numbers are available. Extrapolated over one year, that would add 120,000 jobs in the Garden State.

“If this number is sustained throughout 2012, it will be a very good year for New Jersey,” he says, adding that his “suspicion is we’ll see 75,000 jobs in 2012.”

Also helping New Jersey’s future is a pro-business administration and legislature that works well with a similar-minded government in neighboring New York, he adds. “What happens to New York matters in New Jersey, and what happens in New Jersey matters to New York,” he says. “We’re a region that’s bound together in many regards.”