It’s time again for our monthly update to the Economic Tracker. Your Fort Collins Area Chamber, working with other economic development and business support organizations across the region created a tool to track the economic recovery in Northern Colorado.
This valuable resource is a set of indicators that represent critical aspects of the Larimer and Weld County economies, is based on data that is accessible in a useable format and is updated frequently with little lag time. The Economic Tracker provides great insight into the impact of the pandemic and recession on Northern Colorado.
The most recent update to the Tracker includes the following insights from our Economic Analyst, Caroline Alexander:
- Job posting activity has slowed considerably, but unemployment remains fairly steady and low, and the region continues to add jobs. Average hourly earnings is back on the rise in both counties.
- Retail sales remain strong going into the holiday season.
- The housing market seems to have stabilized. The commercial vacancy rates vary between counties. In Larimer, retail vacancy is low while office and industrial rates are much higher than pre-Pandemic levels. In Weld, all three property types are experiencing higher vacancy, but industrial vacancy has increased the least amount while office vacancy has increased the most. Overall, though, the vacancy rates are all still well below 10 percent.
We’ll continue to update this important data on a monthly basis to help you make thoughtful business decisions.