Arkansas Housing Starts Lag Seven-state Region
by September 13, 2004 12:00 am 61 views
In the first quarter of 2004, Arkansas was last out of seven regional states and fell 4.1 percent behind the U.S. average in percent change in housing permits. Arkansas showed 9.5 percent change for the quarter.
Arkansas permits were up from the first quarter of 2003.
Overall, Arkansas housing permits are trending downward from the highest percent change of 24.4 in the second quarter of 2002.
The United States Federal Reserve published the fourth-quarter numbers in the July issue of The Regional Economist, a quarterly banking magazine.
The area is a regional designation of the Eighth Federal Reserve District in St. Louis.
Arkansas had an 11.2 percent increase for the fourth quarter 2003, compared with an 11.3 percent increase for the same period in 2002.
Tennessee and Mississippi showed a greater positive growth for the first quarter of 2004 with 44.7 and 31.1 percent change, respectively.
Both numbers are higher than any other state in the region reported for the previous year.