Michael Gerard is Marketing Director at GRS Group
GRS Group had the pleasure of sponsoring the Connect Media’s kick off event at The City Club in Los Angeles yesterday. Among the speakers was Christopher Thornberg, founding partner at Beacon Economics. Since its founding in 2007, Beacon has provided economic analysis and forecasting for cities, counties and corporate clients.
Mr. Thornberg is well known in CRE conference circles and is widely considered to be one of the nation’s leading economists; he’s also one of the few economists who predicted the housing crash. His enlightening, dynamic and optimistic economic forecast for the economy and CRE market in general was very well received indeed.
Here are a few of points of interest:
2014 Ended Strong
- Solid acceleration in domestic demand
- Labor markets turned a corner
- Credit expanding on many levels
- Commodity prices down
- Housing market started to bounce
- California is one of the stronger economies in the nation, San Jose out in front
Economic growth to continue to accelerate in 2015
- Slower start to year transitory
- Worker wages about to start rising
- Interest rates are not going anywhere
- Asset markets/Tech is not a bubble (yet)
- Gas prices a net positive in the end
Watch the headwinds
- Global economy – particularly Asia
- Housing in California
- Frothy markets could start becoming an issue
You can download his entire presentation here. And you should. It’s well worth it.