Along with life, death and taxes, there are 10 things San Diego County can be assured of experiencing in this decade upon us, one certain of bringing good times for most.

1.) San Diego County will continue to grow. By 2010, our region will add 500,000 persons (as we have in each of the past four decades). Our population will reach 3.5 million; Tijuana's population will reach 2 million. The combined megalopolis will be the seventh largest population conglomeration in North America.

2.) The age group with the greatest absolute gain will be 35 to 64 — those with the greatest propensity to acquire homes, general merchandise, furniture and apparel and other adult toys. It is the group that will create enormous demand for personal services.

The second largest age group gains will be 65-plus — the group with the highest net worth. That group has the highest absolute rate of spending in health care, travel/tourism and contributions to charity and community service. As that generation passes away, the estates that pass on will cause a massive increase in consumer spending by heirs.

3.) Household incomes will rise well above the rate of inflation, as the county attracts more highly educated, well-paid talent that will move here to take advantage of high-tech jobs. The percent of households with incomes exceeding $100,000 will increase dramatically, boosting demand for high-end housing with upscale furnishings, customized services and luxury goods.

4.) The county will average new job gains of more than 20,000 annually. As usual, a third of the new jobs will be in basic industries (high-tech, tourism, manufacturing, etc.) while two-thirds will directly service the population's day-to-day needs. The average unemployment rate will be 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent. By 2010, San Diego will be the third largest high-tech center in the United States, trailing only Silicon Valley and the Washington/Baltimore metros.

5.) Demand for housing will continue to exceed 18,000 units annually, but the construction industry will be unable to keep pace. The gap will be in affordable housing. Home prices in the next decade will increase an average of 4 percent to 6 percent each year. By 2010, the average price of a new detached home will be $450,000. The average resale price in La Jolla and Rancho Santa Fe will pass $2 million.

6.) Apartment rents will increase at twice the rate of inflation. Because of increasing government fees and land prices, it will be virtually impossible to produce new rental housing for any group except the affluent. Three-generation households in rental housing will become commonplace, particularly for the county's ethnic minorities.

7.) Homebuyers will be motivated to buy housing in South County. As a result, the South County share of the housing market will increase from about 12 percent in the 1990s to more than triple that in the next decade. And builders once more will build condominiums as the state legislature eventually realizes the folly of construction defect litigation and votes against the plaintiff attorney bloc (the politicians' largest dollar contributors). San Diego County will exhaust its suburban residential land supply by 2010 because of unrealistically low density allocations.

8.) The South County job base will expand to serve that area's booming population. As 50 percent of the industrial land remaining in the county is in South County, industrial space demand will quadruple in the next decade with a major boost from State Route 125, Brown Field, Interstate 905, tax-incremental financing for the borderlands, and NAFTA-related industries.

9.) On national-related indexes, inflation will remain less than 3 percent; interest rates and gas prices will remain stable; and the economic cycles will be far less severe than in decades past. Mirroring the national scene, the next decade in San Diego County will be the most stable in the past 40 years. There will be one recession in the next decade, but it will be mild and of short duration.

10.) It will be a good decade for everyone except public school students. They will continue to get shortchanged by an education system that is more concerned with maintaining a bloated bureaucracy and obsolete methodologies than preparing students for a very exciting new century.

Alan Nevin is director of economic research with Market Point Realty Advisors, a consultancy providing real estate and demographic statistics, feasibility studies and litigation support to the California land use industry and legal professions.