A quarterly forecast update from economists Anil Puri and Mira Farka at Cal State Fullerton’s Mihaylo College of Business and Economics had this to say about real estate …
Local outlook: “Conditions in the housing market are improving in Southern California even though the latest data has not revealed the full extent of the improvement. Foreclosures continue to hobble the market and will remain a major source of concern given issues in foreclosure proceedings. Sales activity is supported by low mortgage rates (though these are slightly up from rock – bottom levels), and this trend is expected to continue into the current year.Housing prices, however, are in a holding pattern and will continue in that range well into 2012.”
National outlook: “Housing. The housing market continues to remain a troubled spot and is expected to restrain the speed of the recovery in 2011. Housing imbalances persist, home prices have shown further weakness, mortgage credit is tight, and housing activity remains low. Although an outright free – fall seems to be well behind us, we expect housing to show persistent signs of weakness in 2011. Despite a temporary uptick in spring as homebuyers lock in low mortgage rates, home pri ces and sales should trend lower for the year, shedding an additional 5% from current levels. The commercial real estate sector will also remain anemic and while commercial property prices seem to have stabilized, significant time will be required to absorb the large amount of vacant office and commercial space before we see any meaningful increases in construction in this sector.”
As for the big picture, Register reporter Mary Ann Milborn tells us that Puri and Farka project O.C. to add 20,000 jobs in 2011!
