The investment market for office buildings is booming after a two-year pause, though the commercial real estate industry still faces several challenges, The New York Times reported.

Investors are beginning to take more risks, such as purchasing buildings with vacant space, for the first time since the collapse of the commercial real estate market.

Now, as some properties command prices redolent of the boom years, fierce bidding for high-quality office space with low vacancy rates has priced some investors out of the market.

Last year, approximately $27.7 billion worth of office properties valued at $5 million or more had changed hands through mid-December. That’s more than twice the volume in 2009, according to Real Capital Analytics.

However, despite the buoyancy in the commercial real estate sector, it continues to struggle.

According to Reis Inc., a New York-based research firm, the national office vacancy rate was 17.6 percent during the third quarter of 2010, a 1 percent increase from the third quarter of 2009.

Nationwide, according to Real Capital Analytics, more than $48 billion worth of office buildings are in default, bankruptcy or foreclosure.