The Rural Mainstreet Index (RMI) increased by 1.4 points to 56.7 in March from February, and is up from 47.4 in March 2010, signaling that that the 10 rural, agricultural and energy-dependent areas covered in the monthly survey continue to expand.

Though the survey’s economic confidence index was down to 65.2 in March, compared with 70.9 in February, the home sales index climbed above 50, or growth neutral, for the first time since June of last year.

“Home sales have been on the decline since the tax credit for first-time home buyers ended last April,” said Ernie Goss, an economist with Creighton University.
Both the banking loan volume index and jobs index also increased from last month, to 47.1 and 56.2, respectively.

In Iowa, the overall RMI increased slightly to 57.3 in March, from 57.2 the prior month. The state’s farmland price index slipped to 75.5 this month from 77.5 in February, but Iowa’s farm equipment sales index increased to 76.4 from 65.1.  
During the past 12 months, the rate of job gains for Rural Mainstreet Iowa was 1.6 percent.

“Rural areas are clearly outpacing the urban areas in terms of job growth,” Goss said. “Even with recent job gains, the Rural Mainstreet economy has 206,000 fewer jobs today (4.4 percent) than before the recession.”