Private sector wages were up for the 26th month in the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in February while they declined again the Kingsport-Bristol MSA. The preliminary, non… Read More

Tri-Cities employers added 2,000 in February, employment was up by 4,243, the labor force grew by 3,960, and the unemployment rate dipped to 3.9%. It was the sixth time in the last 12 months… Read More

Housing affordability improved in Sullivan County during the first quarter of this year and slipped in Washington County. The local counties were among the 142 counties in Attom Data Solutio… Read More

Rents were on the rise in Sullivan County in Attom Data Solutions’ Q1 Single-Family Rental Market Report but flat in Washington County. Rents are rising faster than wages in both count… Read More

Northeast Tennessee’s 2017 population increased by almost 12,000 people according to the Census Bureau’s 2017 estimated population report. The lion’s share of that growth w… Read More

The 2017 Census Bureau’s latest population estimates put a big grin on the faces of Northeast Tennessee civic leaders. The news wasn’t nearly as encouraging in the SW Virginia po… Read More

If you think the 20% down payment you read so much about is the norm – think again. And looking at the average down payment and the average loan amounts compared the other metro areas… Read More

January was a tough month for sales tax collections in the Tri-Cities and across Northeast Tennessee’s other metro areas – with the exception of Morristown. Morristown was the on… Read More

House flipping increased in popularity and profitability in the Tri-Cities last year. Investors in six of eight local markets had a gross return on investments (ROI) on flips that were well… Read More

Six of 10 key indicators paint a picture of a growing 2017 Tri-Cities economy, but trend lines for all but three show a flattening or pronounced growth rate declines. At the same time, the f… Read More

Tri-Cities foreclosures were down in January compared to last year and down from December filings. According to Attom Data Solutions January Foreclosure Activity Report, there were 65 forecl… Read More

One of the final reports for 2017’s housing market shows that local homeowners who were best positioned increasingly leveraging their equity. At the same time, the number of seriously… Read More

Homebuilders across the Tri-Cities are the busiest they have been since the recession. New residential permits were up 12% last year in the seven counties monitored by The Market Edge and th… Read More

There was a time when the first words out of a prospective buyer’s mouth when they linked up with a Realtor was “what kind of foreclosures are out there?”  Those days… Read More

Northeast Tennessee sales tax collections rode a strong holiday sales season to close 2017 with a regional 1.29% annual increase. Annual seasonally adjusted collections in both Tri-Cities me… Read More

Carter and Hawkins counties had best annual avg. price gains last year. Elizabethton lead city markets with highest annual avg. price increase By now anyone interested in the local econ… Read More

Johnson City MSA ends the year with more jobs than it had before the recession. Private sector workers see 8% annual average weekly wage increase. Kingsport-Bristol reclaims 4,817 of the 6,1… Read More

Last year was a banner year for single-family home sales in Bristol TN and VA. Twin Cities resales’ year-over-year annual growth rate dramatically outperformed every other city market… Read More

Current Census estimates for the Tri-Cities show almost one-in-three people age 20 through 64 didn’t work in 2016. And the age group with the largest share of those who didn’t wo… Read More

Now that we’re in a new year and the 2017 tax cut/reform is in place some in Congress have turned their focus on reforms/cuts in social programs to help defray the projected deficit th… Read More

It will be a couple of weeks before the local December labor market data will be available, but there are some late adds to November’s report worthy of consideration. MTSU’s labo… Read More

November was a wild ride month for sales tax collections in the Tri-Cities. The Kingsport-Bristol Metropolitan Statistical Area posted the highest year-over-year and month-over-month increas… Read More

November’s Tri-Cities unemployment rate held at a record low for the third straight month. The economy continued adding jobs at a slower rate, and private sector wages increased. On th… Read More

Defenders of the mortgage interest deduction (MID) framed changes in the GOP tax plan as a dagger in the heart of the American Dream and possibly an anchor on home prices. They managed some… Read More

Tri-Cities metro areas joined Morristown to trail Knoxville and the state in year-over-year October retail sales tax collections. Kingsport-Bristol also had the worst year-over-year performa… Read More

A recently-released set of Census Bureau social and economic multi-year estimates offers a glimpse over a period of time at the six major cities in the Tri-Cities region in their recovery fr… Read More

Reports from Attom Data’s Solutions and the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) point to the same thing – strong fourth quarter home sales. Sullivan and Washingto… Read More

The Tri-Cities economy continued adding jobs in October, and the region’s unemployment rate was in the mid-3% range while labor participation lagged. It has become a common “good… Read More

Look at any of the roads around Kingsport on any weekday morning or afternoon, and it’s immediately apparent there’s a lot of commuting going on out there. For this report, we&rs&hell…Read More

There were more rental property vacancies in over than half of the Tri-Cities region’s zip code during the third quarter of this year than last year. And a comparison of non-owner-occu… Read More

Local employment rates are at historic lows. Homebuilders are the busiest they’ve been since the recession, and there are ample signs of new commercial developments and renovations und… Read More

Retail sales tax collections slipped for the third straight month in September while Kingsport-Bristol saw its second month of improvement. If Tri-Cities September collections sound a little… Read More

The Tri-Cities economy continued adding non-farm jobs in September while the number of people employed was the highest since January 2011. The seven-county region’s 3.3% unemployment r… Read More

Gross single-family rental yields for Washington and Sullivan counties were down in the third quarter, but that doesn’t necessarily signal a down market for landlords – especiall… Read More

The volume of good economic news coming out of Hawkins County is almost enough to make elected officials and the chamber of commerce giddy. After a decade of stagnation, a revival of industr… Read More

After seven years of declining new home activity and another four years of slow growth, the market is taking off. Tri-Cities area builders saw the first stirrings of the surge early this yea… Read More

The Tri-Cities economy will get a $3.6 million a month bump when local residents get their first Social Security checks that include the 2018 cost-of-living adjustment (COAL). The 2% increas… Read More

Remember the adage that a rising economy raises all boats. Today’s economy is showing that’s not always the case. While there’s ample evidence the Tri-Cities economy is see… Read More

Although Washington County, TN has the youngest median age in the Tri-Cities (40.3 years) it has the largest number of nursing homes in 2017. Data source: National Association of Counties Read More

Sullivan County received some strong positive housing affordability information in Attom Data Solutions Home Affordability Index. Sullivan was the only Tennessee county among those included… Read More

How many are working full-time, part-time and how many don’t work It’s accepted knowledge that more part-time and contract work has become staples in today’s labor market… Read More

Revised data show the Tri-Cities economy is still clawing its way out of the black hole of the Great Recession and the process isn’t as strong as previously reported. Across the region… Read More

Median household incomes in Sullivan and Washington counties didn’t see the big 2016 gains they enjoyed in 2015. They also lagged the 3.2% nation-wide gain. They were up. But it was a… Read More

While commercial building permits are a product of the business cycle, they’re not always a good indicator of economic health. That’s what the first half of this year looked like… Read More

Attom Data Solutions’ Pre-Mover Index points to a stronger third quarter housing market activity in Sullivan and Washington counties. The pre-mover index shows markets where homes are… Read More

The latest Census data shows Northeast Tennessee residents are older, working longer, living longer – but not always in good health. And demographically we’re where the rest of t… Read More

Kingsport-Bristol Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), private sector wages, declined again in May while wage growth in the Johnson City MSA continued a higher rate than the national average… Read More

Northeast Tennessee’s April retail sales tax collections rebounded from March’s funk everywhere except Kingsport-Bristol Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Kingsport-Bristol ha… Read More

Tri-Cities unemployment rates dropped to numbers locals haven’t seen for 20 years and it’s begging the question: Are we at full employment? If the answer is yes, it’s full… Read More

Tri-Cities retail sales tax collections took a solid thumping in March as did most other state metro areas. The silver lining to that news is two Tri-Cities Metropolitan Statistical Areas (M… Read More

The smaller counties in the Tri-Cities’ housing market flexed their growth muscles during the first three months of this year and drove new residential permits in the seven-county regi… Read More

Northeast Tennessee got a first quarter green economic stress light from two key housing market indicators. Attom Data Solutions Q1 Home Equity and Underwater Report shows the ranks of equit… Read More

Wages for Tri-Cities private sector workers were a mixed bag in February. The average in the three-county Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) continued an upward trend while Kin… Read More

Tri-Cities retail sales may have finally reached a new normal. According to the ETSU Economist Steb Hipple’s Q4 Retail Sales Report  – online HERE – “There were… Read More

A county-level drill down on Census Bureau current population change estimated adds some dimension and a surprise or two. Earlier this week I did a report on the Metropolitan Statistical Are… Read More

The latest Census population data is out with good news for Northeast Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) with one exception. Kingsport-Bristol posted a loss from 2015. It’… Read More

A great, and quick, way to keep tabs on which Tri-Cities labor market sectors are growing and which are contracting is the year-over-year tracking by   Middle Tennessee State Unive… Read More

The Tri-Cities retail sales tax collection trend was higher in January, and both Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) continued a stable, slow-growth pattern. That was in opposition to the r… Read More

After three straight years of average private sector wages, the Johnson City metro area is back on a roll. According to January’s Bureau of Labor of Labor Statistics report, the averag… Read More

January’s Tri-Cities labor market data showed up late  – everybody is already talking about the February numbers – with some revised messages. After an annual revision… Read More

There are two nagging questions about the current Tri-Cities region housing market. If sales are at all-time highs and the inventory is tight, why haven’t prices increased more than th… Read More

Washington County TN’s 2016 inflation-adjusted economic output was a full point better than the six other Tri-Cities counties. Combined with solid growth in Carter and Unicoi counties… Read More

New home construction in the Tri-Cities region continued a conservative, slow-growth pattern that was up 7% last year. The increase was driven by activity in the region’s smaller count… Read More

December sales tax collections dipped below November but were higher across Northeast Tennessee than December last year. MTSU’s monthly seasonally adjusted sales tax collections report… Read More

Although foreclosure activity dropped to a 10-year low on the national level, properties with filings in the Tri-Cities region were back to recession levels in 2016. ATTOM Data Solution&rsqu&hell…Read More

“When Eastman Chemical sneezes, the Tri-Cities gets a cold.” It’s been that way for a long time and the current community mindset hasn’t changed. And it wasn’t… Read More

The retail sales tax collections stars aligned for three of the four MSA in NE Tennessee in September. Year-over-year collections in Kingsport-Bristol, Johnson City and Knoxville were close… Read More

Ask anyone you meet on the street if they think we’re on the road to recovery or still in recession, Chances are about half will say we’re still in recession. Currently, a little… Read More

HUD’s fair market rents (FMR) for the Tri-Cities reflect the same thing we’ve seen in other metrics for rents – a slight decline in rates for three-bedroom units. One and t… Read More

Average rents for three-bedroom homes in Sullivan and Washington Counties single-family were down during the third quarter this year, while average annual gross rental yield were up. Institu… Read More

Foreclosures are poised to make a rebound on the local housing market.  In stark contrast to the national distressed property situation, new foreclosure filings in the Tri-Cities region… Read More

Homes in Sullivan and Washington counties were slightly more affordable during Q3 than they were during the same period last year according to a RealtyTrac market analysis that shows wages d… Read More

Tri-Cities retail sales were mixed in Q2 as were the August sales tax collections. Most of the media attention from ETSU economist Steb Hipple’s Q2 report when to the horse race questi… Read More

The Tri-Cities labor market moved out of its seasonal slump in August with a with 3,100 more nonfarm jobs than July. Compared to August last year that’s a 1.2% increase and the 17th st… Read More

Tri-Cities households posted their strongest income gains since the Great Recession in the latest Census data, and a county-level drill down shows even stronger progress – especially i… Read More

Once you get past the month-over-month fluctuation and the temporary/seasonal layoffs, June was a good month on the Tri-Cities nonfarm jobs front. There were 2,000 more jobs last month than… Read More

Kingsport-Bristol was back on the retail sales tax collections roller coaster in June. The metro area’s year-over-year collections for the month were the second highest in the state &n&hell…Read More

During the first examination of the Census Bureau’s Tri-Cities business patterns report, we established that region lost 635 firms in the 2007-2014 study period. Retail establishments… Read More

During the first examination of the Census Bureau’s Tri-Cities business patterns, we established that region lost 635 firms in the 2007-2014 study period. Retail establishments and con… Read More

A recently released Census Bureau Business Pattern report puts some context to ongoing discussions about how the Tri-Cities and its metro areas are weathering recovery from the Great Recessi… Read More

Closings on new home sales in the Tri-Cities were steady in the 12 months ending each month during the first quarter of this year. The average sales prices during the period varied but was s… Read More

Home Price Indexes (HPI) for the Tri-Cities’ two metro areas were up in May and followed the national pattern of softer prices as markets ease into the summer season. CoreLogic’s… Read More

Another year’s population change data from the Census Bureau shows the Tri-Cities lost 103 residents during the July 1, 2014 – July 1, 2015 estimate. And like last year the Johns… Read More

The overall tri-Cities jobs picture improved in May, but that improvement is slow, doesn’t include all 12 sectors and is another example of the type growth that has so frustrated resid… Read More

May was another good month for Tri-Cities workers.  Year-over-year private sector wage rates for both metro areas were higher than the job creation rate, and the Bureau of Labor Statist… Read More

May Tri-Cities job creations were not the disappointment they were on the national level. A surge in the Johnson City metro area more than made up for a softer increase in Kingsport-Bristol… Read More

The Tri-Cities and its three major cities posted some solid Q1 sales numbers, and the folks in Bristol had something to crow about. According to ETSU’s Dr. Steb Hipple’s analysis… Read More

The term “The Great Recession” is burned deep into the lives of almost everyone. It was a huge event in everyone’s daily life. But what about The Great Restructuring? It&rs&hell…Read More

  36% Say Candidates Doing a Bad Job Articulating Housing and Finance Policies Americans Want New President’s First 100 Days to Include Focus on Homeownership Affordability and Lo… Read More

Tri-Cities sales tax collections backed off March’s double-digit year-over-year gains in April for a more moderate growth rate.  Other East Tennessee metro areas followed a simila… Read More

CoreLogic’s April Home Price Index (HPI) shows the Tri-Cities Housing Market continues improving as the area’s leader in economic recovery. The index is a second-source look that… Read More

The national media is busy slicing and dicing May’s labor market report.  There’s a malaise about the economic outlook driven by May’s weak job creation report and ind… Read More

Private sector wages in both Tri-Cities metro areas continued trending higher in April with the Johnson City year-over-year comparison hitting a four-and-a-half-year high. Preliminary, non-a… Read More

Despite the unreliability of the Census Bureau’s unemployment rate data, April’s labor market reports are good news for the Tri-Cities region. Job creation and employment were po… Read More

Washington and Carter counties were the only two counties in the Tri-Cities area showing population growth in the Census Bureau projections released today. Washington County saw an increase… Read More

When media reports turn to homeowner equity more often than not the focus is on the unfortunates who are seriously underwater. Those are the folks who owe at least 25 percent more than the e… Read More

Closing on new home sales in the Tri-Cities were up at the beginning of the year when compared to the year before, but the average closing price and average mortgage size tracked by Metrostu… Read More

CoreLogic Home Price Indexes for both Tri-Cities metro areas posted year-over-year increases in March, but the Johnson City area was the standout. It outperformed both the state and national… Read More

Tri-Cities commercial construction during Q1 – as measured by new permits – was unchanged from the last year. According to the Market Edge commercial building permit report, 183… Read More

Sullivan County has largest area y-y new home permit increases. Washington County permits slightly off last year’s pace. New home construction remains in slow-growth mode New home perm… Read More