Asheville Metro Economy Outlook July 2008

Posted on by Jason Sandford

Two economists delivered an annual assessment of the Asheville metro area’s economy on July 23, 2008.

Despite the longest-running financial panic in the U.S. since the Great Depression, Asheville and its strong health-services and tourism sectors continue to see sustained economic growth, two economists said Thursday night.

Tom Tveidt, director of the Asheville Metro Business Research Center and national expert James F. Smith, chief economist for Parsec Financial Management and a professor at Western Carolina University’s Institute for the Economy and the Future, painted a mostly upbeat economic picture, or at least a glass-half-full view of what’s happening.

Asheville’s economy continues to be powered by 51 straight months of record-setting job growth through the first half of 2008, Tveidt said, with 3,700 new net jobs added over the past year. There’s been a decline in home sales and home construction, but annual home-appreciation rates remain strong at 4.5 percent, he said.

Tveidt broke down Asheville’s strongest economic sectors: population growth and the industry serving new residents, professional and business services and manufacturing, along with health services and tourism. Smith provided a big-picture view of the national economy.

Click here to download a PDF that summarizes Tveidt’s presentation.

Click here to download a PDF of Tveidt’s slide presentation.

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