Thursday, September 25, 2014

August Edition of the Frederick County Monthly Business Economic Indicators Now Available

August Highlights

  • Unemployment increased slightly In July to 5.6% but still well below Maryland’s rate of 6.5% and the U.S. average of 6.2%.  
    • It is also still lower than it was at this time last year when it was 5.8%.
  • The residential housing market seems to be very active with an 11.5% increase in number of houses sold compared to last year at this time. 
    • There are also 40% more homes on the market selling for 4% more than this time last year. 
  • The commercial and industrial market saw the highest dollar value in 3 years at this time with $14-1/2 million in construction costs for August.
  • Our overall commercial vacancy rate of 12.2%  is lower than the 5-year average of 15%. 
    • The most noticeable decrease in vacancy for the flex market (4-1/2 percent lower than the 5 year average 14.5% versus 5 year avg of 20%).
To download a PDF, please click here.