CHICAGO- DLA Piper says 85% of the nearly 200 top executives they surveyed in April feel bullish about the real estate market. The law firm will release its 2013 State of the Market Survey today just before its 2013 Global Real Estate Conference, which takes place in Chicago on April 30. The findings stand in contrast to their previous survey from October 2011. Back then, only 30% of those surveyed felt optimistic.

“The economy isn't booming, and job growth has been only modest,” DLA Piper notes. Some executives “cite a strengthening economy, yet most don't expect to see a sustained, broad economic recovery lift real estate fundamentals this year. Instead, most cite low-cost financing afforded by artificially low interest rates and easier access to capital.”

“There's a lot of capital chasing deals,” Jay Epstien, the firm's chair of U.S. real estate, tells GlobeSt.com. And the slow recovery means that much of the capital will finance the purchases of existing property instead of new development. He points to New York's Sony Building, which was put up for sale late in 2012, as a good example. “The bidding escalated very quickly,” and it sold for $1.1 billion, far more than expected, especially for a building that, even though desirable, was widely acknowledged as needing improvements.