Home construction slowing in greater Indianapolis region
INDIANAPOLIS – The Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis (BAGI) announced a recent home construction and purchase slowdown over the last 60 days. CEO Steve Lains said while the slow-down is surprising, it’s due to unprecedented growth that occurred in the housing market over the last 24 months.
This trend, announced in a State of the Industry letter, is also apparent when looking at this month’s building permits report, which shows an annual decline in over half of the reported Central Indiana counties, with a 21% decrease in total permits compared to this time last year.
While circumstances such as labor shortage, limited lot availability and material delays continue to be large factors in the building slowdown, there are now several other economic issues to consider. Those include inflation, which has risen 9% since January; fuel prices; and mortgage rates, which are now approaching 6%, which compares to the approximate average rate since the late 1980s.
Governor leads trip to Asia
INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Eric J. Holcomb landed in Taipei last weekend to kick off an economic development trip in Taiwan and the Republic of Korea. The trip will include visits with Taiwanese and South Korean government officials, business leaders and academic institutions to further strengthen Indiana’s economic, academic and cultural connections with Taiwan and South Korea.
The delegation led by Holcomb, which includes Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers and Indiana Economic Development Corporation staff, Purdue University Dean of College of Engineering Mark Lundstrom and Chief of Staff Alyssa Wilcox, will visit Taiwan over two days, during which they will meet with business leaders, academic leaders and government officials. The group will then travel to Seoul for two days, returning to Indianapolis on Aug. 27. Lundstrom will return to Indiana after departing Taipei, and Purdue University president-elect Mung Chiang will join the delegation in Seoul after the first days of the new academic year on Purdue campus.
Indiana unemployment rate remains below national average
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana’s unemployment rate in July stands at 2.6%, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. In Hancock County, the unemployment rate for July was slightly higher at 2.9%.
By comparison, the national unemployment rate in July fell to 3.5%, compared to 3.6% in June.
In addition, Indiana’s labor force participation rate rose again, from 63.1% in June to 63.3% in July, remaining above the national rate of 62.1%. Indiana’s total labor force, which includes both Hoosiers employed and those seeking employment, stands at 3,393,968 — an increase of 15,331 from the previous month. This is the highest level since December 2019.
