Iowa’s Rural Mainstreet Index falls
BUSINESS RECORD STAFF Dec 16, 2016 | 3:38 pm
1 min read time
193 wordsAll Latest News, Banking and FinanceCreighton University’s Rural Mainstreet Index for Iowa fell to 63.5 in December from 72.1 in November, but remained a regional high.
Anything above 50 is considered growth-positive.
Iowa’s farmland price index for December fell to 49.3 from 56.6 in November. Iowa’s new-hiring index was 63.9, down from 66.2.
Regional findings included:
- For a 16th straight month, the Rural Mainstreet Index remained below growth-neutral, but the 42.9 index still was the highest since June 2016.
- Farmland prices fell for the 37th straight month.
- Bank CEOs expect loan defaults to rise by 5.6 percent over the next year, up slightly.
- Bankers expect sales growth, but only 0.4 percent over 2015 holiday season levels.
- Midwestern states with December Rural Mainstreet expansions included Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.
“Weak farm commodity prices continue to slam Rural Mainstreet economies. Over the past 12 months, livestock commodity prices have tumbled by 19 percent and grain commodity prices have slumped by 11.5 percent. The economic fallout from this price weakness continues to push growth into negative territory for seven of the 10 states in the region,” Ernie Goss, Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton, said in a statement.
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