Allen Matkins tests validity of forecasting methodology

The Daily Transcript (June 22, 2018) The Allen Matkins/UCLA Anderson forecast has been issuing predictions of commercial real estate's future for more than a decade now, and a recently released report evaluates the methodology of those forecasts. The first Allen Matkins/UCLA Anderson forecasts occurred at a very auspicious time -- right as the nation was heading into what would become known as the Great Recession. The recent report notes that the recovery that followed was significantly slower than many anticipated. Even now, for the most part, construction activity has yet to rebound to pre-recession levels. "From its inception, the concept was to create unique data that would provide a window into the future trajectory for each of four commercial spaces: office, industrial, retail, and multi-family," Allen Matkins stated in its review. "Now, after 11 years of semi-annual surveying of office markets and 10 years for industrial markets, it is time to take a first look at the quantitative predictive power of the survey."