The Bulletin is doing a great job with their quarterly index. Nothing better than to be able to compare numbers on the same charts; it's objective and hard to dispute.
It was always their headlines that I was a little dubious of, but they've gotten much better at that.
"Our Regions Economy Edges Up." Bulletin, 8/26/12.
"...Edges Up..." seems like an acceptable, non-boosterish way to interpret the data.
Three quarters of increase seems like a minimal number to draw any conclusions from, though. And a number of the indexes are still showing the up and down bumpy road.
Two things stand out to me.
The houses sold, is actually kind of impressive, even if 40% of them were distressed sales.
And the Redmond Airport numbers and the Lodging numbers.
What these housing numbers show me, is that we are still getting retirees coming to Central Oregon. Because the jobs numbers sure don't explain it.
And the Airport and Lodging numbers show that tourism is still a strong element.
So, Retirement and Tourism have been our saving grace in all this.
But then, they always were.
As long as we understand that.
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Anecdotally, I have been going garage sailing all summer and have noted that house development is happening again. Houses are being built, which is a big difference when contrasted with NOT being built. The new retirement/rehabilitation center near the forum, and the distillery on HWY 20, Panda Express north of town, are also signs that Bend has lifted off the bottom of the recession.
New Alzheimer's care facility also being built between Third Street and Parrell Road on the south end of town.
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