The U.S. economy grew faster than initially thought in the fourth quarter as businesses drew down inventories at a much slower pace and boosted investment, a government report showed on Friday. As goes the nation, so goes the Boise real estate market, so this news is good to local industry insiders.
With Gross Domestic Product growth projected at a satisfying 5.7%, based on Commerce Department data from the 4th quarter, but actually came in at 5.9%, surpassing many expectations. The latest numbers reflect the most rapid pace since midyear of 2003. In the third quarter alone the economy increased by another 2.2%. Adding these contributing factors in with local ones, will help stabilize the Boise real estate market.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast GDP, which measures total goods and services output within U.S. borders, growing at a 5.7% rate in the October-December period. While the economy rebounded strongly in the second half of 2009 from the worst downturn since the 1930s, data so far suggests the rapid rate of acceleration slowed somewhat in the first quarter of 2010. Even thought consumer spending and the housing markets were down, the fact that businesses increased investment in software and equipment helped add some steadiness to the economy and allowed business to liquidate bloated inventories. Being part of the fabric of the national economy, Boise real estate definitely had similar results.
Demand remains low as indicated by the reduction in actual growth of 1.9% from the projected growth of 2.2%, which reduced inventories and brought some balance back. Inventory values were adjusted down from $33.5 billion initially, to $16.9 in the fourth quarter. They dropped $139.2 billion in the July-September period. The Gross Domestic Product was increased by 3.88% simply by the difference in inventory in that quarter. This was the biggest percentage contribution since the fourth quarter of 1987. With so many suppliers eliminating excess inventory, builders in the Boise real estate market were helped out.
In fact, since 1946 there not been such a dramatic shrinkage in the economy as the 2.4% drop recently. Even consumer spending projections had to be adjusted downward from 2% in January to the actual number of 1.7% increase. Although offset soon afterward, the “cash for clunkers” program drove GDP, by stimulating consumption, up by a respectable 2.8%. The disappointing news came from the consumer spending sector which added only a 1.23% GDP gain, which is low considering it is normally about 70% of GDP. The Boise real estate market has shared in the impact of the national financial crisis.
Businesses continued to invest in equipment and necessary software at such a rate that the commercial real estate slump was not a cause of negative number in the Gross Domestic Product in the fourth quarter. Business investment rose at a 6.5% rate, much faster than the 2.9% pace estimated last month. In the preceding three months, it had slid by about 5.9%. With an anticipated increase of 5.7% for the fourth quarter, the construction numbers were a bit of a disappointment when they came in at 5%. Posting an increase of just under 19% in the third quarter, there was quite a disparity between quarters. Contributing a .3% increase in GDP, imports and exports were significantly stronger in the fourth quarter than previously anticipated. In the Boise real estate industry, the GDP and other market factors are closely watched.
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