HOUSTON-With the area's economic engine firing on all cylinders, it should come as no surprise that the retail sector has been the beneficiary of jobs and population growth. Delta Associates, a research affiliate of Transwestern, underlines this commentary with statistics: During the first half of 2013, retail vacancy rates slid below 10% to stop at 9.4%. This is a decline from the 10.6% reported during the same period in 2012.

The Delta Associates report predicts that the vacancy rate will continue to decline – modestly – through the remainder of the year even as rents are likely to rebound during the balance of 2013. Furthermore, Delta Associates says to look for investment sales to accelerate during the second half of the year; so far sales activity has totaled $182.7 million. In 2012, investment sales totaled $1.2 billion.