The Austin economy is likely to slow a bit in 2019, but it might be hard to notice.

Sarah House, senior economist for Wells Fargo Securities, predicted Thursday that growth in the city's gross domestic product will come in at 6 percent to 6.5 percent next year -- down from her estimate of 7 percent to 7.5 percent for 2018 but still well above a 2019 forecast of about 2.5 percent for the national economy.

Economic activity in Austin next year "will still be very strong -- really a breakneck pace" of growth, House said in brief comments following an economic forecasting event sponsored by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.

Speaking during the event, House said she expects the national economy -- which registered 3.5 percent annualized growth in gross domestic product in the third quarter -- to cool a bit next year, citing issues such as the waning impact of stimulus from increased government spending and federal tax cuts, as well as the potential for reduced corporate investment and profits because of trade tariffs.

"Things are going to be a little bit tougher in the year ahead" nationally, she said. But "it's still going to be an above-average year."

In September, the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis named the Austin-Round Rock region the fast-growing large metro area in the country, based on 2017 economic activity. At the time, the agency estimated Austin's 2017 growth in gross domestic product at 6.9 percent, significantly outpacing the second-place finisher -- the Seattle metro area in Washington state -- at 5.2 percent.

Still, there have been indications, particularly earlier in the year, that Austin's economy has been slowing as employers in the area wrestle with the task of finding enough workers to keep increasing output.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas cited the issue three months ago, when it pegged economic growth as measured by its Austin Business-Cycle Index -- which isn't precisely analogous to gross domestic product -- at an annualized average of about 4.7 percent through the first six months of 2018, from a preliminary estimate of about 6 percent. The Dallas Fed's measuring stick bounced back to an annualized growth rate of 7.5 percent in September, however, the most recent figure available.

Austin's unemployment rate has been scrapping near 20-year lows throughout 2018, coming in at a nonseasonally adjusted 2.7 percent in October, its lowest point in 2018.

"In Austin, there is tremendous (economic) momentum, and we don't see that changing" next year, House said. "We continue to expect Austin to outperform (the state and national economies) and for 2019 to be another great year."