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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Different Year Brings Different Perspectives on the Future

Crystal-ball gazing is not for the fainthearted. Depending on who is doing the forecasting, which industries they are looking at and how they interpret the data, forecasts typically bring up a myriad of contradictions. Here, the Business Journal presents a compilation of the forecasts from a number of different organizations and pundits. Pick your poison. — Shelly Garcia WHAT THE CEOs SAY Business Roundtable CEO Economic Outlook Survey CEOs polled in the fourth quarter by the Washington D.C.-based Business Roundtable generally agreed that, at least for the first six months of 2007, growth will be steady, albeit somewhat slower than historical averages. Overall, the group projected GDP growth of 2.8 percent, slightly lower than historical averages of 3.1 percent. A CORPORATE VIEW The Conference Board’s U.S. Economic Forecast This association of top corporations nationwide sees a slight downward shift in GDP, but somewhat stronger growth in consumer spending. The outlook for 2007 also calls for lower inflation rates and slightly higher unemployment rates. HOW REAL ESTATE INVESTORS SEE IT 2007 Real Estate Investor Outlook Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co. with National Real Estate Investor The private and institutional real estate investors polled in this survey have no intention of moving out of the sector, but they won’t be putting as much into it as they did in the recent past. About 60 percent of those polled planned to boost their investments in commercial real estate over the next 12 months. That’s down from 70 percent who anticipated increased investments in real estate in 2006. WHAT THE PUNDITS SAY Economic Survey Wells Fargo This forecast, based upon a poll of area businesses, showed considerable optimism for demand, hiring and other economic indicators. The Wells analysis is based on an index with anything greater than 50.0 indicating expected expansion or anticipated increases.

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