Globally, Brazil tops the rankings in expectations about rentsand values. By contrast, the US ranks near the bottom, with onlythe United Arab Emirates and Japan taking comparably dourassessments. Regionally as well, industry members in the USmaintain a negative outlook, coming in with the lowest expectationsfor about values and rents and coming in second only to CentralAmerican professionals when it comes to a downbeat view of tenantdemand and investment activity. Brazil is at or near the top of thecharts in all four indicators; other Latin American nations thatscore high include Argentina, Peru and Venezuela. "Our membershipanticipates hot spots, and Brazil and its neighbors are inspiringattention," Matt Bruck, the New York-based managing director ofRICS Americas, says in a release.

Naturally, Brazil's sunny outlook is grounded in recentexperience. According to the quarterly RICS Global Property Surveyreleased earlier this month, Brazil led the way for investmentsales rebounding. Sixty-one percent of survey respondents saidthey'd said an uptick in property sales during the fourth quarterof 2009, compared to 29% in Q3. In second place globally was China,with 58% of respondents saying the same thing. "With low interestrates and relatively high yields, investors have returned" toBrazil, according to RICS.

Tenant demand in Brazil remains high, even though the vacancyrate crept up in '09—to a level many US markets wish they had."Vacancy has increased to 6.6% after reaching 5.5% in 2008," EquityCapital's Rodrigo Abbud says in a release. Those strongfundamentals have had a positive effect on investment sales. "For2010, the market has started hot," says Abbud. "Tenants andinvestors are looking at projects under construction."