Press release from Johnson Price Sprinkle
In the first quarter of 2021, the four-county Asheville metro (Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, and Madison counties) continued post-pandemic progress toward economic recovery.
Highlights:
- Overall, employment was down an average of 5.9% compared to a year prior, while the metro’s unemployment rate averaged 4.9%.
- In the first quarter of 2021, employment in the Asheville metro dropped by an average of 5.9% year-over-year. The decline represents an average loss of 11,700 jobs, an improvement compared to the fourth quarter.
- Averaging 4.9% over the first quarter of 2021, Asheville’s unemployment rate declined steadily each month in the quarter.
- Asheville’s average unemployment rate for the quarter remained among the lowest of the state’s 15 metros and was lower than the state and national rate.
- Nine of 11 major industry sectors reflected employment loss in the first quarter of 2021 compared to one year earlier. Leisure and hospitality made up over half of the nonfarm employment loss in the first quarter.
- Buncombe County Lodging Sales totaled $84 million in the first quarter of 2021. This was $18.6 million or 28.3% above the first quarter of 2020, and the first quarterly year-over-year gain in the past four quarters.
- Total passenger traffic at the Asheville Regional Airport averaged 167,109 in the first quarter, a 41% drop compared to a year earlier.
- The average sales price of homes sold was $415,183 in the first quarter, an increase of approximately 22% compared year-over-year.
- Taxable retail sales in the Asheville metro totaled $2.2 billion in the first quarter of 2021; 25% greater than one year earlier.
Continue reading at JPSPA.com.
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