by Calculated Risk on 1/06/2006 04:43:00 PM

Wells Fargo is forecasting 6.5% house price appreciation in Southern California for 2006 compared to their estimate of 14.3% in 2005.

An internal forecast from a Wells Fargo Senior Economist:

Wells Fargo Forecast	2005(est)	2006(f)
Median Existing Home Price	$489K	$521K
Percent Change in Prices	14.3%	6.5%
Housing Starts	101.3K	103.4K
Single Family Starts	72.4K	74.3K
Multifamily Starts	28.8K	29.K

A couple of days ago, I posted Dr. Thornberg's expectations for California housing construction:

Christopher Thornberg, senior economist with the UCLA Forecast, expects housing construction to drop by 25 percent next year, resulting in significant job loss for the construction industry.

Two very different views.