Newsletter - Kamran Afshar Associates Inc.

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BROWSE POSTS

The housing market is in rapid transition

7/25/2022, 11:39:19 AM

The housing market, after initially crashing, went through explosive growth during the pandemic. The number of houses sold nationally dropped to 4 million at annual rates at the beginning of the covid pandemic and then rose to 6.6 million, more than a million units above its pre-pandemic level, and all of this transition took only 8 months. Unlike sales volume, prices didn't drop at the beginning of the pandemic; however, they happily joined in the rapid increase in volume, rising from $316 to $344,000.

Employment in the Valley at 435,000, highest ever

10/11/2022, 9:48:20 AM

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, total employment in the Lehigh Valley reached a seasonally adjusted 435,000 in August, the highest for this indicator. Some 13,000 new jobs were created in the Valley over the last year. In March and April of 2020, the Valley lost 72,000 or 17% of its total employment, which by any account was a devastating blow. But, thanks to the stimulus and transfer payment packages, the economy did not fall into a depression. It took, however, the Valley 27 months to recover all the jobs lost since February 2020. And to bring down the unemployment rate, which rose to 16.6% in April 2020, down to 4.2% by August 2022.

Gasoline prices are down from last summer’s record high

11/28/2022, 2:34:07 PM

As of this writing, the price of regular gas in the Valley is around $3.35, at the national average gas prices are at $3.58 per gallon, while it is well below its record high of $5, established during the second week of June, it is still 10% above its last November's level.

The Lehigh Valley business sentiment index leveled off in October after a big drop in July

11/8/2022, 9:04:31 AM

The Lehigh Valley’s Business Sentiment Index, the BSI for October, is in a statistical tie with its July level. Considering that it fell by 7.8% in July, the leveling off could pass as a good thing. The BSI is based on the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce- Kamran Afshar quarterly survey of the Valley’s businesses since 1998.In the October survey, three of our six indicators were positive and the other three negative, thus no measurable change from July.

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