If the U.S. economy gets going and if workers begin to find jobs, the commercial real estate market should begin to improve next year, the National Association of Realtors predicts.

In a statement Monday, the association said its chief economist, Lawrence Yun, had concluded, “Vacancy rates are flat, leasing is soft and concessions continue to make it a tenant’s market. However, with modest economic growth and job creation, the fundamentals for commercial real estate should gradually improve in the coming year.”

Going out a year from the current quarter, the association forecast vacancies to decline 0.6 percentage points in the office sector, 0.4 point in industrial real estates, 0.8 points in the retail sector and 0.7 percentage points in the multifamily rental market.

Apartments are one area that most observers have said will burgeon because of the decline in home ownership in the U.S, during the recession.