"The sense of suspense lingers. Economic forecasts for 2010 are anything but euphoric," says Sascha Hettrich, managing partner of King Sturge Deutschland. "Word has it that the economic recovery will progress haltingly. Chances are that the financial markets continue to harbour incalculable risks, and new trouble is brewing on the labour market."

Still, Hettrich says there is reason to be optimistic about the future. "After all, we are expecting a modest recovery of the office markets, which bore the brunt of the recession. Also, it clearly manifests itself in the ongoing stabilisation both of the subjective sentiment indicators polled among market players – specifically in regard to the office climate – and in the rise of the real estate economic situation which is based on macroeconomic facts."

Real estate professionals see the most hope in the office sector. The Office Climate report saw a 9% gain during the month of December to 66.9 index points. This figure is almost three times more than reported in December 2008 when the market fell to 26.1 index points.

2010 is expected to hold "more lively demand" for office space and a slower rise in vacacnies. Still, the report warns, "the current level is low and the market situation remains precarious."

Retail also gained index points in executive sentiment, increasing to 85.7 index points from 80.5 in November.

The Real Estate Economic Situation grew by 2.9% in December, putting the Situation back at September 2008 levels. "For the time being, all we can do is to keep watching it germinate like a very tender shoot," Hettrich says.

The survey was conducted among 1,000 market executives for King Sturge by an independent market research group of BulwienGesa AG.