MIAMI—Optimism among the nation's leading real estate executives rose to a record-high since the collapse of the financial markets almost five years ago. So says a survey from Akerman Senterfitt's U.S. Real Estate Summit.

Eighty-six percent of survey respondents shared a more optimistic outlook just after the first quarter of the year, a 4% increase over 2012. Despite improved confidence in the economy and the availability of equity capital investment, clouds of uncertainty do remain over lawmaker decisions in Washington, D.C.

The survey results, measuring the attitudes and perspectives of national leaders in commercial real estate development, investment, and financing, showed a broad consensus that the multifamily sector would see the most deals in 2013. Roughly 60% of respondents currently see multifamily development as the most active market sector and 55% believe that the sector will return to prerecession levels by the end of the year. Only one-fourth predict that the retail, hospitality, and industrial sectors will begin to peak by 2014.