As the deepest U.S. recession since the Great Depression grinds on, there are some hopeful signs for a turn around in the much diminished commercial real estate arena.

One factor helping to drive commercial building starts is the aging of America. As the Baby Boomer generation pushes the age demographic ever upward, more senior housing and nursing care facilities are needed. The result is an increase in construction starts for these two areas over last year, according to the Seniors Housing Construction Trends Report 2011.

According to David Schless, president of the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA), it is an important but modest amount of new construction. “Until the capital markets change and the economy improves, we expect to see relatively muted levels of construction of market-rate seniors housing.”

Senior apartments are responsible for 49 percent of the new units currently under way, of which, only 8 percent fall under the category of market-rate properties. Another 20 percent of the new projects are independent living properties, with assisted living properties accounting for 16 percent and nursing care buildings 15 percent.

Another area of recent activity is commercial building investments in secondary markets across the country. This trend may be led by spiking valuations for office properties in a number of gateway cities.
» Read more: Hope for Commercial Real Estate