2022 UCSB Economic Forecast Project South County Economic Summit

Last Wednesday, the UCSB Economic Forecast Project held the 2022 South County Economic Summit at the Granada Theatre. The event opened with an economic update from Peter Rupert, Director of the Economic Forecast Project. Rupert’s presentation touched on multiple economic indicators; however the most startling was the large gap between an increase in job openings and a decrease in unemployed persons. Rupert also gave an overview of rent control and the economic concerns associated with implementing related policies.

David Kim from Village Properties gave the South Coast residential real estate update, highlighting the current sellers’ “auction” market and ever-increasing property values in the region. Gene Deering from Radius Commercial Real Estate gave the South Coast commercial and hospitality real estate update, highlighting the gap between the supply and demand for commercial real estate in our region.

Josh Williams from BW Research gave an update on the Santa Barbara County employment and labor force participation, focusing on the demographics of our regional workforce, and the reasons people in our region are changing jobs, and/or not returning to work. The Summit concluded with a conversational segment between Peter Rupert and Jagdeep Singh Bachher, CIO and VP of Investment with the UC Office of the President, focused on investing in turbulent times.