MTSU Business and Economic Research Center issues latest data
MURFREESBORO — Slowing nonfarm job growth, higher
mortgage rates, poor weather and higher home prices combined to rein in Tennessee’s
housing market activity during the first quarter of 2014, according to the
latest report from the Business and Economic Research Center in MTSU’s Jones
College of Business.
Single-family home construction activity declined,
continuing a trend of lower activity that began last fall, reports Dr. David
Penn, director of BERC, who noted that home sales dropped for a second quarter,
and real estate–related tax collections declined.
“Most, but
not all, indicators show that economic activity slowed in Tennessee during the
first quarter,” Penn stated. “Rising home prices seem to hurt buyers more than
help sellers, as jobs and incomes are not growing fast enough to offset the
effects of higher mortgage rates and higher home prices on the monthly payment
for a new home.”
Statewide, home prices are 2.5 percent higher year over year,
with the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area — with a 5.7 percent gain — as
the only metro area of the 10 MSAs in Tennessee to show price growth faster
than the U.S. average of 4.8 percent, the report states.
As for positives, multi-family construction roared ahead, in
tandem with the national trend, Penn said. The state’s unemployment rate
dropped significantly to 6.9 percent, a full percentage point lower than the
previous quarter.
“And households are in no worse shape in terms of affording the
mortgages currently in place, as mortgages past due fell again and foreclosures
were little changed from the previous quarter,” the report states.
View the full housing report at http://capone.mtsu.edu/berc/housingbrief.html.
View a chart on job growth by industry in the state’s 10
Metropolitan Statistical Areas at http://www.mtsu.edu/~berc/tacir/tennesseejobs.html.
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