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Monday, Mar 18, 2024
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Housing to Set Economic Pace

The slowing housing market stands to set the pace for Orange County’s economy next year, according to California State University, Fullerton’s 2007 economic forecast.

Housing permits and related construction expenditures are expected to continue their downward slide in the next two years, said Anil Puri, dean of the College of Business and Economics at Cal State Fullerton.

“We anticipate housing permits to decline by 12% in 2006 and by another 20% in 2007 before recovering slightly in 2008,” Puri said in a speech before 600 businesspeople in Irvine Thursday.

The county faces a dilemna, according to Puri. Home prices show early signs of coming down,and could drop 2% to 4% next year, according to Puri,but they’re still high enough to hinder job growth.

“There is widespread anecdotal evidence that high housing prices are making it difficult to attract high-skilled professionals from outside the region,” he said.

Other highlights:

OC employment through August showed 18,750 new jobs versus 36,700 for the same period a year earlier.

For 2007, employment is expected to grow by 14,200 jobs, a 0.9% increase, down slightly from this year’s projected 1%.

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