Local economy ‘thriving’

South Orange County is a thriving region with a burgeoning high-end job market but housing prices to match, according to a new report.

The report, “South County, We’re Different,” by a Soka University economics team, was presented Friday at a Laguna Beach meeting of the Coastal Chambers of Commerce, a consortium of five Chambers of Commerce, including Laguna Beach.

Robert Ming, secretary of the Laguna Niguel Chamber of Commerce, said: “South County is different from Orange County, with a different attitude, different demographics and trends.

“This is the first study we’re aware of focusing on South County. It’s a way to take the temperature of the community.”

The Coastal Chambers Legislative Coalition asked Edward Feasel of Soka University to prepare a study of the business climate in the so-called “South County” region, Feasel said.

Feasel and one of his students, Humroy Lopez, concentrated on 12 cities and compared South County region with other counties in the state.

Feasel said the South County has a lower unemployment rate, and higher wages, than Orange County overall, and, if measured as a separate county, would have the lowest unemployment rate in the state for the past decade. (Orange County had the lowest unemployment rate in the state in 2005, the report states.)

“This is a very impressive regional economy, and I predict it will continue to achieve new heights in the future,” Feasel said.

If it were a county, South County would rank ninth in the state in taxable sales by county ? ahead of San Francisco and Fresno.

The number of well-paying jobs is offset by the high cost of housing, which has tripled over the past six years, the study shows.

If ranked alongside other counties in the state, South County home prices would be second only to Marin County in northern California, Feasel noted.

Housing costs in the region have risen dramatically from 2000 to 2006, compared with the previous 10 years, the data shows.

This corresponds to the incorporation and huge growth of two of the area’s newest cities ? Aliso Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita.

The 30% growth in South County was the highest in Orange County, Feasel said, three times faster than the rest of the county between 1990 and 2005. This puts South County number 11 statewide.

Laguna Beach topped the house-price trend in rises and values. The median home price in Laguna Beach in 1990 was about $400,000. By 2000, this had risen by one-third, to $600,000. The median home price in 2006 is $1.8 million, highest of all the 12 cities

Laguna Beach also has the second highest percentage of low-wage ? and low-skill ? jobs, due to the high proportion of hotel and restaurants, which account for 45% of employment.

The average weekly pay in Laguna Beach is $676, second to last; only Dana Point another city with a large proportion of hotels and restaurants, averages less.

Laguna Beach and Newport Beach, along with Irvine, have the highest levels of educational attainment among residents.

South County has a much higher percentage of college graduates with 47% of adults 25 and older having a college education or higher, compared with 26% in the rest of the county. These numbers would rank it second in the state if South County was its own county.

Median family income follows these statistics, with Newport Beach and Laguna Beach leading the 12 cities in South County.

The median family income in Newport Beach in 1999 was $111,166; in Laguna Beach, it was $100,778.

“South County is a vibrant economy supported by high wage jobs and a high skill labor force,” the report states. “Unemployment is not a major challenge in the region and this should continue to be the case into the future.

“All indicators suggest that South County will continue to build on its prosperous past and achieve new heights.”

Some at the meeting worried that any housing-price crunch, combined with high gas prices, would make it very difficult in the future to fill low-wage jobs on which many businesses in the coastal region depend.’

Supervisor Tom Wilson, who also spoke at the meeting, said he has been working to provide “workforce housing” ? a term he prefers to “affordable housing.”

“The median house price is out of reach of 89% of residents, and we need to take steps to develop housing to attract and retain workers,” Wilson said.

Wilson said he supports the 241 Toll Road and a study of the potential for a tunnel to link Orange and Riverside Counties, for the same reason.

“The number one challenge [for the county] is transportation,” Wilson said. “The population of South Orange County will grow by 30% by 2025, and the 241 Toll Road is needed.”

SNAPSHOT OF LAGUNA

POPULATION, 2005: 24,969

MEDIAN HOME PRICE, MARCH 2006: $1.8 M

HOME SALES, MARCH 2006: 25

TOP FIVE EMPLOYERS: South Coast Medical Center (565); Montage Resort & Spa (500); Las Brisas restaurant (250); Surf & Sand Resort (250); Hotel Laguna (150).

2005 UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 8.5%

TAXABLE SALES, 2ND QUARTER 2005: $96,146,000

OFFICE VACANCY RATES, 1ST QUARTER 2006: 9.8%

MEDIAN FAMILY INCOME, 1999: $100,778.