California’s Housing Market: Navigating Rates, Demand and Change
Hear from leading experts as they unpack the economic forces and market dynamics influencing California’s housing landscape in 2026.
TIME & LOCATION
Feb 11, 2026, 10:00 AM – 11:15 AM
Virtual
ABOUT THE EVENT
The California housing market enters 2026 at a moment of transition, caught between middling mortgage rates, stubborn inflation pressures, and shifting Federal Reserve priorities. Disagreements among policymakers and uncertainty around long-term inflation mean the path ahead remains anything but linear.
Join the Center for California Real Estate (CCRE) on Wednesday, February 11, from 10 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. for a virtual discussion bringing together leading economists, market analysts, and industry experts to explore how these macroeconomic forces will shape California’s housing landscape in 2026. This forward-looking conversation will provide context on what the year ahead may hold for housing demand, market stability, and long-term affordability.
Moderator:
Faculty Director
UCLA Anderson Forecast
Jerry Nickelsburg joined the UCLA Anderson School of Management and the UCLA Anderson Forecast in 2006. Since 2017, he has served as faculty director of the Forecast. Nickelsburg plays a key role in the economic modeling and forecasting of the national, California and regional economies. He has conducted special studies for the UCLA Anderson Forecast on manufacturing, trade, and labor markets.
He earned a PhD in economics at the University of Minnesota and was a Fulbright Research Scholar in Ecuador and Peru. His current research is on transportation economics focusing on the development of new data and the application of economic theory and statistical methods to sector-specific policy issues.
Nickelsburg teaches economics in UCLA Anderson’s MBA program, with a focus on business forecasting and international business economics. He travels regularly with students to Asia as professor and advisor in global immersion courses.
Formerly a professor of economics at the University of Southern California, Nickelsburg has held executive positions with McDonnell Douglas, FlightSafety International and Boeing during a 15-year span in the aviation business. He developed forecasting tools for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and has advised banks, investors, and financial institutions. From 2000 to 2006, he was the managing principal of Deep Blue Economics, a consulting firm he founded.
Nickelsburg is frequently cited in the national media. He has published more than 100 scholarly and popular articles on economic policy, monetary economics, statistics, labor economics and industrial organization. He is the author of two books on monetary economics and exchange rates.
Panelists:
Lead Economist
Morning Consult
Kayla Bruun is the lead economist at decision intelligence company Morning Consult, where she works on descriptive and predictive analysis that leverages Morning Consult’s proprietary high-frequency economic data. Prior to joining Morning Consult, Kayla was a key member of the corporate strategy team at telecommunications company SES, where she produced market intelligence and industry analysis of mobility markets.
Kayla also served as an economist at IHS Markit, where she covered global services industries, provided price forecasts, produced written analyses and served as a subject-matter expert on client-facing consulting projects. Kayla earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Emory University and an MBA with a certificate in nonmarket strategy from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
Chief Economist
National Association of Home Builders
Robert Dietz, Ph.D. is the Chief Economist for NAHB, where he leads a team of 12 economists whose responsibilities include economic forecasting, industry surveys, and policy research. Dr. Dietz has published academic research on the private and social benefits of homeownership, federal tax expenditure estimation, and other housing topics. He is the nation’s leading analyst of the residential construction industry.
Dr. Dietz has testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and the Senate Banking Committee on housing, economic and tax issues. He is a member of the Blue Chip, Wall Street Journal and other top national forecasting panels, co-chairs the National Association for Business Economics construction/real estate group, and is commonly cited on CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and NPR. He is also a member of the White House’s housing economics consulting group.
Prior to joining NAHB in 2005, Robert worked as an economist for the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation where he estimated the federal budget impact of tax law changes associated with housing and real estate issues. He is a native of Dayton, Ohio, attended George Washington University as an undergraduate and earned a Ph.D. in Economics from The Ohio State University in 2003.
Chief Economist
Realtor.com
Danielle is responsible for developing and translating real estate trend data into consumer and industry insights. She also leads realtor.com®’s team of the industry’s top analysts and economists with the goal of providing deeper and broader housing insights to people throughout the home journey, industry professionals, and thought leaders. Before joining realtor.com® in July 2017, Danielle spent nearly a decade as an economist and policy researcher at the National Association of REALTORS®. As managing director of housing research, Danielle oversaw the production of closely followed housing market data, including NAR’s monthly pending and existing home sales indices and quarterly home price reports. Danielle previously served as manager of tax policy research, leading research projects on topics including how federal, state and local policies impact the real estate market. Prior to joining NAR as an economist in 2008, Danielle spent three years at the American Enterprise Institute, where she produced research and managed its executive office’s communications. Her work during that time included research contributions to Dr. Allan Meltzer’s A History of the Federal Reserve, Volume II (University of Chicago Press, 2010). Danielle earned her degrees from Florida State University and calls the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC home.