Heading into 2012, the US seems lesscaught up in global economic uncertainty than decoupling from it,at least temporarily. "The US will outpace Europe in the comingyear, and by more than most people expect," says Richard Mack,North America CEO of AREA Property Partners in New York City,although he adds that is this is "due more to European weaknessthan US strength." Asieh Mansour, CBRE's San Francisco-based headof Americas research, puts it a little differently: "The USfundamentally will avoid a recession. Many of the fundamentals ofthe US economy are much better, in comparison to Europe."

Yet this may not last. Although some key US economic indicatorshave been trending upward for months, with a slightly steeper climbin the fourth quarter, the footing is still shaky. Mack termsChina's near-term economic outlook "the big unknown," and Mansourcites that Asian powerhouse and Europe's sovereign debt crisis asthe two major risk areas in terms of the global economy.

All signs point to another year of slow growth in commercialreal estate fundamentals, domestically and worldwide, but also oneripe with investment possibilities for sharp-eyed buyers. "If theEuro zone area goes through a much sharper meltdown than what we'recurrently projecting, that can really harm growth globally, throughthe trade and capital financial markets channels," Mansour says. Atthe same time, she says, "If China goes through a harder landingthan what global investors are expecting, it means much weakergrowth and possibly a global recession" in 2012.