Orange County will continue to see increases in employment, household income, and home prices this year, with slightly higher gains in 2014, according to the Economic Forecast Update presented by Chapman University’s Argyros School of Business and Economics to a full house at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa this morning.
The midyear update sticks with an earlier projection of 2.3% for employment growth in Orange County this year, with the addition of 32,000. Chapman forecasts a 2.6% growth rate on local jobs next year.
Job growth and OC’s high concentration of income from capital gains and dividends will push the median annual household income up 5.3% to $83,000 this year, according to the forecast. It will rise another 5.9% in 2014, when it’s expected to reach $88,800, according to Chapman economists.
The recent run-up in the housing market here—with the median price up by as much as 25% to about $540,000 in the past 12 months, according to some estimates—will continue in 2014. The Chapman forecast projected an 8.8% increase in the median price next year.
―Staff Report
