Economist Says Valley Growing Faster Than L.A. County

The San Fernando Valley is the bright spot in the Los Angeles County economy, an economist told attendees Thursday morning at the first San Fernando Valley Economic Forecast sponsored by the Business Journal and California Lutheran University. Matthew Fienup, executive director of the school’s Center for Economic Research and Forecasting, added that the Valley’s economy had higher gross domestic product and jobs growth percentages than Los Angeles County in total had. “We are seeing a vitality that is uncommon and unexpected given the broader economic climate the San Fernando Valley lives in,” Fienup said. The Valley’s GDP was forecast to grow 2.6 percent in 2018 and 2.8 percent in 2019. Job growth was forecast at 1.4 percent next year and 1.5 percent in 2019. The information and technology sector, which includes the motion picture and television production industry, would lead the increase in jobs, Fienup said. “That is the driver of economic growth in the Valley subsequent to the recession,” he added. Fienup however cautioned that the risk to the Valley’s economy comes in the form of higher housing prices that can be a constraint on job growth. The Valley’s median single-family home price between January and September of this year was $639,711, a 6.6 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. It is also higher than the median single-family home price of $523,983 in Los Angeles County.