The major markets in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic showed slow, steady growth in 2011, but the dual impacts of the upcoming election and uncertainty on Wall Street remain unknown, despite improving labor market fundamentals. Although the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.3%, the economy added 227,000 positions to US payrolls in February, making it the third consecutive month in which more than 200,000 jobs have been added—a sign of growing health for the economy.

"There's an underlying strength here," says Kenneth McCarthy, senior economist and senior managing director of research at Cushman & Wakefield. "Even as we were getting all this negative news last year, layoffs started to decline. Employment growth actually started to pick up a little bit after September. Corporate profits are still very healthy, so businesses have a lot of cash. They have the ability to hire, and it looks like there's enough demand growth in their businesses. That's a very positive sign in an uncertain environment."

In the nation's capital, regional employment grew by 17,900 positions last year, which is trending in the right direction based on the 10,900 jobs added in 2010, according to Jeffrey Kottmeier, director of research at Cassidy Turley. Metro DC unemployment was 5.5%, the lowest in the nation for any major metropolitan area. In addition, Moody's Analytics forecasts the Washington, DC metro to be the seventh-highest generator of jobs in the next five years.