September 2016 Press Release

Index: Employment Outpacing National Numbers, Real Estate Making Long Term Positive Moves

Pockets of Consumer Spending Brightens and New Construction Begins

Tallahassee, FL – The Tallahassee Economic Index (TEI), the city’s top economic growth indicator, released numbers ending September 2016 which show a strengthening consumer and increased activity seen in the real estate sector.

“Led by another sharp drop in initial claims for reemployment assistance the TEI finally—after three straight months of drops—showed muted gains in September,” said TEI Founder Brett F. Ewing. “Tallahassee’s job market continues to shine and outpace the rest of the country. We are also seeing strength in pockets of consumer spending categories as shoe & apparel stores had a significant month & showed strong year over year growth as well.”

The Index climbed 3.87 points, from 51.17 in August to 55.04 in September.

“The index made a bit of a comeback in September highlighted by a couple of really hot categories where we got historically good numbers,” said Lance Mitchell, Director of Research at the TEI. “After a bit of a cooling the construction sector looks to be picking back up as New Construction Permits surged to a number that hasn’t been outpaced since February of 2009. Couple this with solid yearly growth in lumber sales & a double digit gain in Median Sales Prices on existing homes and it’s easy to see that real estate continues to be the brightest sector in the Tallahassee economy.”

• Reemployment Assistance Initial Claims fell 15.38 percent MoM, and 8.33 percent YoY
• Single Family Home Median Sales Price grew 9.14 percent MoM, and 17.81 percent YoY
• New Construction Building Permits jumped 117.86 percent from August to September, and 84.85 percent YoY
• Realtor Sales were down 14.49 percent from last month, and are down 8.3 percent YoY
• Airport Passengers increased 9.59% from this time last year