Chapman Releases 2020 Economic Forecast

The annual Chapman University Economic Forecast was released Tuesday by university President Emeritus Jim Doti and Professor Raymond Sfeir, anticipating an economic slowdown to 1.9% expansion in 2020, although no recession is on the horizon. They also estimate California’s trade with China will show a 14% plunge to $153 billion this year from $178 billion in 2018.

The forecast predicts Orange County home sales will pick up next year after a decline in 2019, while single-family housing prices will grow at a hefty 3.2% rate and residential permits will increase at a healthy pace, according to the economists.

While Orange County is expected to have some contraction in employment, housing is anticipated to be a bright spot. The Chapman economists’ forecast of 1.9% growth in the U.S. GDP in 2020 is slightly more optimistic than the 1.8% forecast by California State University-Fullerton economists led by Anil Puri and Mira Farka in October.

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