ATLANTA-The nature of opportunities in commercial real estate has gradually shifted from gobbling up distressed assets, to competing for trophies in core markets, to the new wave of development. Currently, opportunities prevail across the board, though multifamily remains the strongest sector on all fronts.

From Alan Dibartolomeo's perspective, the biggest opportunity in commercial real estate this year is providing well-located, attainably priced housing at or near the job-creating centers in large metro areas.

“The high-tech, high-education level, and highly exportable products from areas like New York's financial district, California's Silicon Valley, Raleigh, NC's Research Triangle or Hollywood's media center are fueling the recovery. But new housing in most of these areas stalled for several years,” Dibartolomeo, chief development officer at AMF Development, the Huntington Beach, CA development arm of American Multifamily, tells GlobeSt.com. “Job creation is increasing demand for housing—mostly for-rent housing—where barriers to entry for housing developers ultimately yields product that is expensive or located a reasonable commuting distance from the job source.”