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NEW YORK CITY-Folks inside the beltway are slugging it out over most recent area of stalemate--the sequestration issue—causing the inevitable stir of concern rippling through the private sector. The good news is, according to the most recent Net Lease Economic Report, if our elected officials do manage to pull this out of the fire (think monkeys on a typewriter) there are potential areas for growth for our own community. (For the full report: click here.)

The report is the product of Reston, VA-based Calkain Cos. and Chandan Economics, based here. The upshot of the report, though focused on the fourth quarter, makes some interesting and forward-looking observations.

“The extension of the debt ceiling and the possibility of sequestration virtually guarantee that Washington will persist as a source of uncertainty,” Dr. Sam Chandan writes. “Even so, businesses navigated the uncertainties of the fiscal cliff and now face a difficult but dirigible course forward.

“Where will growth come from?” he asks. Pockets of strength are emerging around the country, often in the most unlikely of places. In the Heartland, a sustained uptick in car sales has returned autoworkers to plants that were threatened with extinction just a few years ago.

In Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Dakota," he continues, "initial windfalls from the shale gas boom are altering the destinies of small towns overnight. Across the much wider national landscape, housing markets appear to be firming after more than five years of declines.” In an interview following up after the release of the report, Chandan (who blogs on Globest.com) provided three major areas of potential expansion for the industry, based on the findings of the report:

Chandan says to expect, “strengthening capital flows into secondary markets and for smaller assets, including higher-yielding triple net properties.” He went on to say that investment appetite should expand to support a more level playing field across tenants.”

The economist says to wait for more “significant forays into development of new assets.” Along with that, he adds, as the single-family housing market continues its “slow turnaround,” you can expect more opportunity for value-add investments in previously underwater assets “that will become viable again for the first time since the financial crisis.”

Also, Chandan says that we haven't seen the last of Dodd-Frank, either. Another trend he predicts concerns “changes in the regulatory environment related to the implementation of Dodd-Frank and the activities of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.” They could, he notes, affect the profitability of consumer banking.