ATLANTA—Strong job growth, industry expansion and conservative development levels are paving the way for continued positive growth among Atlanta's office, industrial, retail, and multifamily sectors. So says CBRE Research's 2016 Southeast US Real Estate Market Outlook.

"This current trajectory suggests in-migration and workforce expansion will provide a foundation for further economic growth, and ultimately, broad demand for commercial real estate," Dan Wagner, a regional research manager at CBRE, tells GlobeSt.com. "Office users, for example, benefit from a larger pool of educated workers for recruiting top talent, population increases encourage household formation, underpinning the demand for housing, increased consumption of goods requires adequate industrial product for storage and distribution, and an expanding base of residents and consumers bodes well for retail product."

Zeroing in on the class A office market, Atlanta is posting consistent gains in occupancy. As vacancy declines and new development remains thin, it's now a landlord's market. With class A office space accounting for two-thirds of office inventory, tenants are paying higher rents today than a year ago. Given the lack of new development and continued demand, rents are poised to rise further this year.

Against this backdrop, developers are moving to bring 5.5 million square feet of new office development to market. That's on top of the 1 million square feet currently under construction. But it will be 2017 before new office assets are completed, meaning vacancy will continue declining and rents will continue rising.

Of course, all of this is turning investors' heads. From 2013 to 2015, more than 45 million square feet of office space has traded hands. That's about the equivalent of the market's entire CBD inventory.

Combined with robust rent growth, Atlanta's market stability positions the city as a lower risk for global investors. CBRE expects more cross-border capital movement in the near term as international investors seek the stability of US commercial real estate.

Want more insight into what is especially unique about Southeast commercial real estate? Read more from Wagner.