Despite strong office sector employment growth, office fundamentals lag according to REIS. REIS reported a 10 basis point uptick in national office vacancies to 16.5% in the first quarter with steady growth of 0.9%. However, there is great variance by individual market. This appears to be a conundrum as office using employment has been steadily rising at rates much faster than broader job growth; the continued gains in "efficiency" (I.e. less paper per employee) appear to the

Unemployment rate officially falls to 3.9%, lowest rate in decades. The BLS reported that unemployment rate has fallen to 3.9% as 164,000 jobs were added in April. A rate this low has not been seen since the late 90's The low unemployment rate accompanied by stronger wage growth, is absolutely confirming that the nation is at full employment. Further, the "slower" rate of net new hires is likely due to lack of labor, not lack of jobs. REIS reports rising rents and rising vaca

CEO confidence rises in first quarter, more hiring expected in 2018. The Conference Board Review reported that its measure of CEO Confidence rose to 67 in the first quarter, up from 65 in the prior (any reading above 50 is positive) More CEOs report confidence in their own industry (51% now versus 49% before) and expect to do more hiring in '18 Overall, net investment from corporations could drive the biggest gains that will benefit CRE in '18. This is a positive measure for

Net lease investment remain hot in 2018 National Real Estate Investor Magazine released a report that showed strong sentiment for net leased investments in 2018. Approximately 35% of survey respondent said supply of deals was in balance, 27% thought the market was undersupplied, and only 15% thought the market was oversupplied. It is likely for the prices of net lease deals to remain stable or even grow in the face of broad market volatility, as income stability of investment