HOUSTON–The overall sentiment of those attending Thursday'sRealShare Houston conference was that the localmarket is in the midst of an amazing story. Rising rental rates,constant population and job growth, and a healthy pipeline of newdevelopment all comes together to create a robust market that islikely to be sustainable for the next three to four years.

During the Institutional Capital Markets panel,moderator Steve Pumper, executive managingdirector at Transwestern, pointed out that lastyear Houston saw $4.8 billion in office sales, with the averageprice per square foot around $212. This figure spans 105 propertiesand about 26 million square feet.

And yet, with those figures on everyone's minds, several of thepanelists admitted to not actively pursuing office deals in theHouston area and those that are find it a difficult market foracquisitions.