April 2017 Press Release

Travel Takes a Pause, Employment and Retail Sales Bounce Back

Tallahassee, FL – The Tallahassee Economic Index (TEI), the city’s top economic growth indicator, today released numbers ending April 2017.The numbers showed Airport Traffic, Realtor Sales, and New Construction Permits declined, while Retail Sales, Median Home Sales Prices, and Lumber/Building Materials advanced.

“The TEI had a muted gain in the month of April, breaking the streak of two straight months of declines,” said TEI Founder Brett F. Ewing. “The index was led by a pickup in retail sales which finally bucked the multi-month trend of declines. While retail recovered, Airport Traffic saw its first year over year decline in nearly a year as some of our previously most solid categories had trouble in April.”

The Index rose .75 points, from 50.31 in March to 51.06 in April.

“The index remained relatively unchanged this month, but there was plenty of movement within individual categories,” said Lance Mitchell, Director of Research at the TEI. “Real estate was mixed with realtor sales and new construction permits weakening, but median sales price and lumber posting solid gains. One of the more positive data points came from a moderation of initial claims for reemployment assistance. After the huge spike up in March it was a welcome sight to see the number of claims fall on both a monthly and year over year number, signaling continued strength in employment.”

• • Shoe Sales in Leon County Jumped by 40.40 percent in April vs. March, and 15.24 percent from last April
• • Building Permits were down 58.73 percent in April, and are 25.71 percent lower than April 2016
• • Realtor Sales fell by 9.58 percent from last month, and by 2.7 percent YoY
• • Airport Traffic declined 11.13 percent MoM, and 1.54 percent YoY
• • Initial Claims for Reemployment Assistance dropped 5.04 percent from March, and 5.88 percent from April 2016
• • Lumber and Building Materials sales grew again in April, by 3.01 percent MoM, and 10.09 percent YoY