A stable real property market will protect the District from falling off the cliff in the case of a recession, D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi said Wednesday, but the city’s economy is not immune to a slide.

Despite the highest debt per capita in the nation — at $9,000 for every man, woman and child — and an inability to tax the federal government, nonprofit-owned properties or the income of nonresidents, the District’s economy will remain sound, Gandhi said confidently.