Business Outlook Positive for Job Growth in 2014

BMO Harris recently released its 2014 U.S. Business Outlook report, containing some interesting opinions and facts regarding businesses throughout the county.

Image courtesy of BMO Harris

To read the full report, click here.

The two useful bits of information stemming from this report are the survey results for the outlook of businesses in 2014 as well as the self-reported data of those same businesses in 2013.

The first stat (the chart above) is especially good news for the state of Florida as 96% of businesses polled in the state expect their business to either increase or remain the same.  Of that 96%, over half expected their business to grow.  This is especially welcoming news as two of the most important factors when it comes to an increase in homeownership are job creation and access to capital.  With business owners expecting their business to grow, more jobs will be created and more people will have more access to capital.

The other telling stat from the report comes from the year-over-year data for companies, as 84% of companies either grew or remained the same from 2012 to 2013.  This bit of data is certainly an affirmation that companies are bouncing back from the economic downturn and expect continued growth this year as well.

For those in the real estate industry, knowing that businesses are expected to improve their performance will increase the performance of the real estate industry as well.

Jobs in Technology, Energy Pave the Way for Housing in Florid

The Milken Institute recently released their findings on the Best Performing Large Cities in the United States.  Although the state of Florida did not have a particularly strong showing, the Tampa/St. Petersburg metropolitan area ranked second overall in the state of Florida.

Courtesy of the Milken Institute

To view the full report, click here.

The Milken Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan economic think tank whose mission is to improve lives around the world by advancing innovative economic and policy solutions that create jobs, widen access to capital, and enhance health.  What professionals in the real estate and construction industries should pay particular attention to in the M.I.’s mission statement is its particular focus on helping to create jobs and gain access to capital – the two most critical pieces of advancing the housing industry.

Overall, the state of Florida did not compare well to other states throughout the country like Texas, Colorado and California.  These states are leading the charge in the energy and technology sectors.  These sectors are especially important for both job creation and access to capital.  As previously mentioned, job growth and access to capital are the two most important pieces to improve the housing market.

Not to be outdone, Tampa did rank in the Top 40 in the country for number of high tech industries last year, as well as the Top 75 in the country for concentration of high technology jobs.  Again, the concentration of jobs in the technology industries is especially important because they provide an increase in job creation as well as further access to capital.  With both of these two criterias filled, the housing market in the Tampa area will continue to show signs of improvement.