February 2019 Press Release

Local Economy Continues Positive Momentum

Real Estate, Employment, and Consistent Airport Traffic Growth Lead The Charge

Tallahassee, FL – The Tallahassee Economic Index (TEI), the city’s top economic growth indicator, today released numbers ending February 2019. Following a 6.40 point leap in January, the Index saw an upsurge of 7.42 points from 41.96 to 49.38 in February.

“The Index had another positive month in February—the largest in over two years. One factor that lead to this month’s move was Initial Claims for Reemployment Assistance. This input is 11 claims away from the all-time low, down almost 30% from the prior month and 8.24% from February 2018.” said TEI Founder Brett F. Ewing. “Another indicator keeping up the positive momentum was Airport Traffic. This indicator has only seen one month of negative seasonally adjusted growth in the past 17 months. This marks the best beginning of any year since the index began 12 years ago.”

“February has brought a second month in a row of accelerating growth in the Capital City. The Index has not seen that since it saw three months of growth from November 2016-January 2017.” Said Lance Mitchell, Director of Research at the TEI. “Real Estate numbers finally stopped their slide in February. New Construction Permits, Median Sales Prices, and Realtor Sales have all rebounded from last month, while building materials saw a double digit gain from last year. Median Sales Prices have come back up to nearly all-time highs, just 1.8% below the all-time high we saw back in June 2017.”

• Lumber and other Building Materials Sales fell 17.28 percent MoM, but grew 13.18 percent YoY
• Airport Traffic slipped .83 percent from last month, but continued its ascent growing 4.83 percent from one year ago
• Median Sales Prices of Single Family Homes improved 15.38 percent from January, and 9.09 percent from February of 2018
• Initial Claims for Reemployment Assistance dropped 29.28 percent MoM, and 8.24 percent YoY