Each Participant agrees to hold the Service harmless against any liability arising from any inaccuracy or inadequacy of the information. Data were not available at the time this report was put together. The seasonally adjusted Index of Economic Activity for Humboldt County remained practically unchanged during April, dropping from 120.4 to 120.3. There was some variability in the performance of the sectors of the Humboldt County economy during April. The most remarkable change was the seasonally-adjusted drop of 25 percent in home sales.
Mortgage rates are up and consequently applications for mortgages are down.
This decrease in mortgage applications, combined with an unusually cool and damp April, would seem to be factors in the decrease in home sales. While occupancy rates were up, they were less than would normally be expected in April. In contast, both the employment and the energy sectors were up a small amount. These latter two sectors carry a relatively large weight in the composite Index , and so offset the dropoff in home sales and area occupancy rates. The largest contributors to this increase over May reports from the recent past are the retail and energy sectors.