June 17th, 2008 categories: Asheville Economy
Asheville Metro Economy Update
June 2008
Brought to you by the Asheville Metro Business Research Center. A service of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce.
http://ashevillechamber.org/
Asheville Exports Near $665 millionExports from the Asheville metro area rose to $664,934,000 in 2006, up 12 percent or $72.8 million over 2005. Information released by the U.S. Department of Commerce shows machinery made up the largest product group of exports from the metro, comprising 35 percent of the total. Other major export groups include paper, electrical equipment, transportation equipment, and textiles.Regions and trade agreements representing the top destinations of goods exported from Asheville were the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Cooperation (APEC), followed closely by the 34-nation Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and the 3-nation North American Free Trade Agreement.
Asheville Home Appreciation Rate 12th in Nation
Home Appreciation Rate Tops State and Nation Annual home appreciation rates in the Asheville metro equaled 4.5 percent through the first quarter of 2008. The rate surpasses the state’s pace of 4.0 percent and the nation’s overall decline of 0.3 percent. The figures, released by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), ranks Asheville 40 for one-year appreciation among all 273 metro areas listed by the agency. Asheville has the fifth highest annual appreciation rate among the state’s 14 metro areas. Asheville is ranked third in the state for its five-year appreciation rate of 51.5 percent, which also tops the state and nation, with rates of 31.9 and 38.9 percent respectively.
Job Growth HoldsDespite the slow pace of job growth through the first four months of 2008 in both the nation and state, employment is up by an average of 3 percent in the Asheville metro. The rate represents slightly more than 5,000 net new jobs over last year. By contrast the state is up 1.5 percent and the nation 0.5 percent. Asheville’s current pace is well above it’s annual average growth rate of 1.4 percent over the last decade.
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