Local economists Matthew Fienup and Dan Hamilton have been named recipients of the 2020 Crystal Ball Award for the Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, formerly known as the Case-Schiller Home Price Expectations Survey. Fienup and Hamilton of California Lutheran University’s Center for Economic Research and Forecasting were among the five most accurate home price forecasters from 100 included in the survey. “The 2019 Crystal Ball award represents a continuation of CERF’s outstanding track record of accurate forecasts and timely, clear-eyed analysis,” Fienup said in an email to the Business Journal. “We are especially proud of this award given the history of the survey and the distinguished list of survey contributors.” Organization Pulsenomics surveys a panel of more than 100 economists, strategists and housing market analysts each quarter regarding their five-year expectations of home prices. The survey has its roots with originator Robert Schiller, a Yale University professor and Nobel laureate. The CERF team received the honor for their outstanding performance and consistency in the survey by having earned three top-five rankings last year. “CERF has been proud to be a part of the Zillow Home Price Expectations survey since it was launched by Nobel Prize winner Robert Shiller in 2010,” Hamilton said in a statement to the Business Journal. “The survey leverages a large community of professional forecasters to provide forward guidance on home prices, which in turn impact household spending, household and investor psychology and financial markets.”