Students who want to know the trends and forecasts for the Sacramento business region now have an available source with plenty of information.

The Sacramento Business Review magazine made its debut this month. It analyzes information on Sacramento’s industry sectors, real estate trends and forecasts.

Sanjay Varshney, dean of the college of business administration at Sacramento State, and Jason Bell, the vice president and investment manager for Wells Fargo, saw the need for a business magazine that would provide data on Sacramento’s present and future economy.

Varshney said that he had noticed there was little economic information available concerning the Sacramento area. He pointed out that when he tried to find data to back up stories in the newspapers and on local news stations, he could not find anything of substance.

“The economy is pretty large and vibrant,” Varshney said. “I don’t see a comprehensive economic analysis. No reports, just plenty of opinions.”

Jonathan Lederer, president of Lederer Private Wealth Management, said Bell wanted to raise awareness of the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute. According to the Sacramento Business Review, the institute is a global, non-profit association of investment professionals, with over 90,000 members and 135 societies worldwide.

The institute’s mission is to lead the investment profession globally by setting the highest standards of ethics, education and professional excellence.

Varshney said that because of Sac State’s huge economic impact on Sacramento, he wanted a manual that students could use as a reference. Based on research of the area, he added, most graduates stay in and around Sacramento, fueling the economy. Nearly 6,000 students graduate from Sac State each year.

Sac State is also home to the Capital Fellows Program, where students work for credit as staff in the state legislature. This often leads students to jobs within the legislature or state government.

Varshey believes the Business Review creates the perfect synergy, by providing an appropriate, comprehensive analysis of the area.

Mark Ross, real estate investment broker at CB Richard Ellis and writer for the magazine, said his intention is to have a full-blown forecast of the real estate market at the end of the year, with a smaller scale mid-year update. On page 17, an article states that at the end of 2005, when there was a peak in the residential real estate market, 26 percent of all jobs in the region were real estate related. Since that time, the real estate sector has steadily lost jobs and now represents just 22 percent of overall employment.

“Sacramento is likely ahead of most markets right now because we entered the recession six months before the rest of the country did,” Ross said.

Ross pointed out that rent in the Sacramento area has been a real bargain. He added that rents have been steady the last five years. The magazine has two charts with information on rent. One shows the vacancy versus net absorption in the area, and another shows the various going rents for different Sacramento regions in the fourth quarter of 2008.

For anyone looking into renting in the area, a section includes an outlook on the rent index performance in the stock market.

Clean energy and its future and growth in Sacramento take a spotlight in the issue. The magazine said there is little doubt that clean technologies will become more prevalent in the years ahead. The key question is whether some of the region’s clean-energy firms will have the capital to survive till then. The magazine states that it would behoove local policymakers to follow the lead of federal and state officials and concern themselves with climate change. This will ensure that the greater Sacramento region’s business climate provides a friendly environment for the clean tech industry.

Lederer indicated that the magazine will be helpful to students who want to stay on top of current events. Graduates going into the job market need to get good grades, develop networks and have a way to differentiate themselves from others in the same field.

Sally King can be reached at [email protected]