CHICAGO—The number one issue affecting commercial real estate inthe near and long term? America's growing energy independence, saysthe Chicago-based Counselors of Real Estate, whichput it at the top of its annual Top Ten Issues Affecting RealEstate list, released Wednesday.

Other issues in the association's top 10 list this year: jobs,millennials, healthcare, globalization, water supply, the capitalmarkets, housing, manufacturing and agriculture. “The list reflectsgrowing economic and political turmoil, changing demographics andthe lifestyle choices of an emerging generation, rising energyindependence in the United States and a strengthening job marketfueled in part by massive changes in the delivery of healthcare,”Hugh F. Kelly, clinical professor of real estateat New York University's Schack Institute and 2014chair of the CRE, said during the opening address at the NationalAssociation of Real Estate Editors' annual conference inHouston.

Energy's implications for commercial real estate are twofold,according to the CRE. On the one hand, there's the boom inemployment in many markets, ranging from Houston to the Bakken oilfields in North Dakota, which can lead to a ripple effect inhousing and services.