The UCSB Economic Forecast Project recently predicted that California is headed into a “mild” recession, triggered by the failing residential real estate market, rising unemployment rates, and declining retail sales.
According to a press release from the UCSB-sponsored organization, California’s economy will most likely be “hit harder than the rest of the nation as a whole.”
The report issued by the organization cited recent statistics from the real estate market, which revealed that the median price of single-family homes has fallen nearly 16 percent in the last year–a record decline in the last 24 years.
The economy will likely also be hurt by what the project reported as the state’s difficulties attracting new businesses and a slowing rate of viability in the technology industry.
For more information about the California report and the UCSB Economic Forecast Project, visit www.ucsb-efp.com.
This article appears in Apr 9-16, 2008.