All is well in Garden State.

While the national commercial real estate market begins to show signs of recovery, New Jersey is actually leading the way, far outpacing neighboring states in job growth, economic expansion and the state of the commercial real estate market. Conditions in New Jersey are very strong and there are still many excellent opportunities for developers, tenants and investors alike

Following the state's strategy of pushing development to the inner cities and urban areas, there is tremendous activity in places like Newark, Jersey City and Hoboken. Areas along the Jersey shore are also undergoing a renaissance. The state's leadership is telling the development community that it's attempting to streamline the approval process, thereby creating more development opportunities.

Another hot sector is retail development. Since New Jersey leads the nation in per capita income, national retailers continue to pour into the state. With demand so strong, many developers are converting older industrial facilities to retail space.

As the state's vacancy rate remains stable, tenants are still afforded many excellent leasing opportunities. There have been many large deals in the office market of late, but the real story is that we are witnessing growing tenant demand across the board.

Since interest rates are still at historically low levels, private investors continue to be drawn to commercial real estate in record numbers. Many invest through REITS, private direct ownership or funds that target high net worth individuals. We expect that returns for apartments, retail and industrial will continue to lead the way.