This was among conclusions at the first RealShare South Floridaheld Wednesday at the Hollywood Hard Rock Hotel. About 150 peopleattended the event, which opened with a "State of the Market TownHall Meeting" in which panelists discussed prospects for the 2007commercial real estate markets. "South Florida is still growing,"said Marcus & Millichap senior vice president/managing directorGene Berman. "It's not going into recession by any means."

The population is continuing to grow and companies are stillinterested in moving to the region, in part because rental ratesare cheap to other regions of the country, such as New York City."We think the future is bright in South Florida," said Wachoviasenior vice president/market manager, real estate financialservices David Warne. "On the income property side, office,industrial and apartments are all doing well."

Contributing to the strength of the nonresidential sector is thescarcity of land on which to build. With continued strong demandamong office and industrial tenants, occupancy rates have risen inexisting properties. This has resulted in a rise in rental rates."We've seen rental rates go up 20% over the past year," saidFairfield Partners principal Jose Juncadella. "We'll see thatcontinue over the next years."