HOUSTON—Amid a still-plodding domestic economy, investorsstarved for yield are still looking for it in the safest place atthe moment: commercial real estate. So says the August edition ofTranswestern's monthly “The Briefing” report.

“Both debt and equity markets remain highly liquid andcompetitive as commercial real estate continues to offer attractiveyield to income-oriented investors and opportunistic upside forthose investors looking for higher return and higher riskinvestments,” according to Transwestern's chief investment officer,Tom McNearney. He notes that the first quarter saw a 13.5%year-over-year increase in CRE sales on assets valued at $10million or higher, for a total of $74.1 billion intransactions.

Most commercial product types reported higher salesyear-over-year for May, the report states. Sales of retailproperties increased 75%; office sales increased 17%; andmultifamily sales increased 11%. Industrial sales, however,decreased by 10% year-over-year for the month of May.