Housing forecast.

IN one of the Los Angeles Business Journal's first editions, published Sept. 17, 1979, housing industry experts were asked what the future would bring. The city's big builders looked into their crystal balls and saw a "new lifestyle" influencing the housing industry:

"The 1980s will see continued strong demand for home ownership by American families, primarily because of the sharp increase in the formation of new households and inflation," declared Eli Broad. The increase is caused by the aging population, and to a larger extent it is a result of new types of households being formed, Broad observed.

"Singles, divorcees, unmarried couples--all are part of this new group of non-traditional buyers who previously were renters," he explained.

Also on the demand side, the increasing numbers of working wives and two-income families are qualifying more potential buyers for home loans, Broad said.

In the housing supply, the most significant trend cited was the rising cost of land.

"In the year ahead land will become more and more difficult to obtain, particularly in the 'close in' locations," remarked Jim Warmington, president, Warmington Development Inc. "The land which is available will be very expensive, causing the price of homes to continue to increase," he predicted.

The forecasts proved accurate, said Stephen Cauley, co-director of the Richard S. Ziman Center at UCLA's Anderson School, but he added a caveat: the housing market collapsed in the 1990s.

"It sounds like there's no risk investing in houses," Cauley said. "And that's just not true."