Fresno County EDC held its annual Real Estate Forecast on April 20 with keynote speaker Christopher Thornberg, economist and founding partner of Beacon Economics, discussing the local market and what the future holds for the region.

In addition, Fresno EDC board chair Nick Audino moderated a panel discussion in which the audience heard from real-estate specialists (Brian Domingos (residential), Robin Kane (multi-family), Buk Wagner (industrial), and Sullivan Grosz (ag).

The Fresno economy is vibrant and strong, according to the experts.

GVWire asked Thornberg about the state of the Fresno economy and the issues that might crop up.

“While there is no doubt that parts of our economy are dealing with the big increase in interest rates, overall the core part of our economy is doing very well. Consumer demands remain very strong, wages are up, particularly wages for lower scale workers.”

According to Thornberg, the local real estate market has a lack of supply as opposed to a lack of demand. If more new housing is built, he said, the labor force will grow in Fresno and further strengthen the local economy.

The local experts said that real estate prices are increasing across the board because of the short supply. Demand for properties continues to grow, and in order to ease inflation, developers must build houses as quickly as possible, they said.