Comparing the two rolling quarters, home-sales and the hospitality sector experienced modest growth, while the other sectors were essentially unchanged. We track four leading indicators to get a sense of the direction of change in the county economy in the near future. As is frequently the case in the County economy, the leading indicators are mixed. As the table at the top shows, building permits increased by a huge amount during September, while help-wanted advertising was down by almost 10 percent, and the other sectors were essentially unchanged. The large burst of building activity is likely a response to falling interest rates.
Many economists anticipate further interest rate declines in the coming months.
If rates do continue to fall, the local impact will be significantly more building activity, which results in additional income flowing through our County economy.