Even after yesterday's brief tempest, VIX has declined significantly since the August spike and is now below its multi-year average levels as we head into seasonally volatile months.
Goldman Sachs Options Research team sees potential upside to VIX levels from here based on their economic framework for modeling equity volatility, seasonal pickup in volatility and upcoming macro/micro catalysts.
Their economic model of volatility estimates a VIX level of 24.5 based on current macro-economic environment compared to 18.2 now.