"Commercial real estate investors continue to seek buying opportunities with the office market gaining increasing interest, despite a mixed bag of improving commercial real estate fundamentals," consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers says in its look at what happened in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Going too far afield is not attractive, however, PwC said.

The firm's Real Estate Investor Survey revealed that buying opportunities beyond the core markets remain tricky due to a protracted recovery outlook for both the U.S. and many secondary markets. Nonetheless, office is a good opportunity among unattractive alternatives, the respondents told the company.

Investors even see good prospects for tenant retention and rising rents, they said.