At the recent LeadingRE Annual Conference, Leslie Appleton Young, Chief Economist at the California Association of Realtors, shared the following insights. This is the conference that just keeps on giving!

 

  1. GDP increase in the past ten years has averaged about 3%. US unemployment is 4.1%, California unemployment is 4.3%.
  2. California was leading the nation in job growth from 2012 until last spring.
  3. We are pricing ourselves out of job growth because Millennials can’t afford to live in California. Theyare moving to Austin, Nashville, and Boulder. People making $75,000-$100,000 are leaving California because it’s too expensive.
  4. Consumer confidence is high, good economy predicted in 2018, and stronger growth.
  5. Cash deals in CA use to be 33% but are now only 20% of sales.
  6. Sellers are not moving as often due to capital gains, property tax, and being locked into lower interest rates.
  7. California currently has its lowest inventory since 2004. Supply has been declining for a while.
  8. Most robust demand is at entry level.
  9. Affordability peaked in the first quarter of 2012.
  10. Renter-occupied Single Family Residences have increased.
  11. LA County – Three months of inventory. Average DOM (days on market) is 30 days.
  12. Leading indicator for stock prices: inflation. It’s expected to rise in 2018.
  13. Tax Cuts & Jobs Act – took home bias out of the equation; makes housing more expensive.