Investors "shouldn't be afraid of an impending recession" and should instead consider what the economic picture will look like over hold times of three, five and ten years, according to one industry watcher.

"It's hard to say if or when the next recession will be because there's a wide range of economic crosscurrents in play. That makes it very difficult to predict," says Marcus & Millichap's John Chang, adding that while "the risks are rising, a recession is not a foregone conclusion."

On one hand, Chang says, job creation is robust, with an average of 488,000 jobs added per month this year. Unemployment remains low at 3.6% and wage growth strong at 5.2%. And while retail sales have flattened recently they are still up nearly 8% over last year.

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