VISTA ‘22 Provides In-Depth Look Into Future of Economy

The Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance (LVGEA) hosted its inaugural VISTA ’22 event providing an in-depth forecast around indicators on regional, national and global levels. Hosted at the M Resort and online, VISTA ’22 brought together Beacon Economics’ Dr. Chris Thornberg and Las Vegas Raiders’ Jeremy Aguero, and a lineup of esteemed panelists to provide the audience with the data and insight needed to do business in 2022 and beyond.

Jeremy Aguero, Chief Operations and Analytics Officer for the Las Vegas Raiders discussed the data behind the consensus forecast as well as insight into his projections.

“The best opportunity for us to create jobs is for businesses here already to continue to invest and innovate. This continues to make the region attractive. It’s not only about attracting new companies but making sure the environment is a good place to do business.

Christopher Thornberg, Founding Partner of Beacon Economics took a look at the national economy, the effects of the stimulus and government mitigation measures, and whether inflation will be a problem in 2022.

“Last recession, the government response was not enough. This time it was over the top. Remarkably a small amount of these stimulus dollars was spent on nonessentials by those who needed it. There is so much money floating around this economy. We are richer than we’ve ever been but remember what it is built on—a massive expansion of the cash supply and national debt.”

The ‘Ask the Experts Panel.’ Panelists included Bob Potts, Deputy Director for the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development; Cathy Jones, CEO of Sun Commercial Real Estate; and Nat Hodgson, Chief Executive Officer of the Southern Nevada Homebuilders Association. The panel was moderated by Betsy Fretwell, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Switch Cities and Chairwoman of the LVGEA Board of Directors.

The panel shared regional trends in demographics, real estate, and tourism, presenting highlights and analysis from a new consensus forecast.

Bob Potts provided an overview of trends in the workforce and regional resource constraints. “I do believe a large number of lost tourist sector jobs won’t come back. Working with partners I think we are going to retool some of those jobs. We’ve always been a community that retools and innovates.”

“We have two restraints here: land and water. I can’t think of anyone more at the top of their game than the Southern Nevada Water Authority. They are working hard and setting the tone for the region on water management.”

Cathy Jones: trends in office and industrial real estate and how we compare to other markets. “The lands bill is making progress but it’s going to take some time. It looks like we have a lot of available land but there’s actually very little privately available in the region. The increase in land costs for industrial has almost doubled. This is a huge impact on the overall cost of building which contributes to the rising real estate costs.”

Natt Hodgson: Discussed the growth and needed stabilization in residential real estate in Southern Nevada and whether we are in a bubble or not. “For resale, we are a capitalist country. With low supply and high demand, housing prices are higher, and the goal is to see them stabilize. The good news is there are no metrics that are insane like in the Great Recession.”

“Thanks to our generous sponsors, insightful speakers, and all of our attendees for making our Vista event so successful,” said Jared Smith Chief Operating Officer of LVGEA.  “Diverse perspectives on a variety of topics are driving meaningful conversations about the future of our economy and our community.”

Guests in attendance received a copy of the regional consensus forecast. Learn more about the event at www.events.lvgea.org/vista/