NEWPORT BEACH, CA—The commercial real estate market will remain strong in 2016 as long as there's no hard landing in China, said several Voit Real Estate Services brokers, who spoke recently at the company's economic forecast event here. The event drew more than 150 CRE professionals to the Big Canyon Country Club to learn what experts are anticipating from the industry in the new year GlobeSt.com has learned exclusively.

Keynote speaker Esmael Adibi, professor and director for the Anderson Center for Economic Research at Chapman University, provided some compelling facts and outlooks on the overall economy in 2016, covering topics including real GDP, consumer spending and job and wage growth. Adibi anticipates that the economy will remain strong and continue to grow. He anticipates steady job growth, a gain in real income, a pickup in consumer spending, slower home appreciation and solid growth within the healthcare sector. Alternately, he warned about the possibility of a hard landing in China, geopolitical events, terrorism and missteps in policy.

Adibi explained that China is a significant factor that cannot be ignored. He says that no economy can grow 10% year after year. He also touched on the recent increase in interest rates by the Fed, noting that while Janet Yellen predicts four interest rate increases in 2016, Adibi anticipates that the Fed will not increase interest rates more than two times in 2016.