Perhaps with all the mess the housing industry is experiencing, the commercial real estate is benefiting. The commercial real estate sectors, though, has not yet fully recovered from the recession no thanks to the weak job growth but it is definitely on its way with sectors offering incentives that make the market ripe for expansion. This is according to the country’s largest trade association.

The National Association of Realtors admits that the commercial real estate is still suffering from the effects of the current economic recession. However, with the housing market still unable to recover from the crash, practitioners are restructuring practices to aid the commercial market’s recover.

NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun explains, “Vacancy rates are beginning to level off in some sectors, but rent discounts and moderate levels of landlord concessions are widespread. This is very much a tenant’s market, which is quite favorable for businesses that are considering expansion. It’s also encouraging that there is a modest improvement in the sentiment of commercial real estate practitioners.”

The Society of Industrial and Office Realtors has released an attitudinal survey of more or less 600 local experts dubbed the SIOR Commercial Real Estate Index. The results how that even if rents remain a bit depressed, vacancy rates are leveling. And even though the 2.8 increase in percentage points to 41.0 in the second quarter is way below 100 – which represents a balanced marketplace – it still represents a third consecutive quarterly increase after three years of decline.

The last time the commercial market has shown equilibrium at 100 for the 100 variables measured was in the third quarter of 2007.

In the third quarter, 57% of the respondents say they expect improvements in the industrial and office sectors. And 88% of them admit there’s virtually nonexistent investment activity but that development acquisitions are growing in buyer’s market.