"I hope none of us take for granted the strength of the greatcommunity that we have," said Ross Perot Jr., Transwestern'sTrendLines' trendsetter of the year and a Dallas/Fort Worthfavorite son who took Hillwood from a startup to amulti-billion-dollar powerhouse in 19 years. And it was DeltaAssociates' CEO Gregory Leisch from Washington, DC who drove homejust how strong the regional market is for attendees of the fifthannual TrendLines, held at Northwood Club in North Dallas.

"It's my view the credit crunch will not bleed into arecession," Leisch said. From now until 2009, he's predictingincreases, marginal in many cases, which will keep the economy"sturdy but not robust." The bird's-eye view of Dallas/Fort Worthcalls for 70,000 jobs annually, slight rent hikes for all producttypes and absorptions in line with historical averages. The latestjob count shows the region added 78,000 jobs by the end of August,but Texas is bound to feel the impact of the nation's economicslowdown.

As the economy slows, Leisch predicted that it won'tsignificantly impact the investment sales arena although he doesbelieve that the sector hit its peak this year. "There is still somuch money on the sidelines that we think investment sales willstill be robust for several more years," he said.