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Is Your Glass Half Full or Half Empty?
Whether you're currently active in buying, selling or operating commercial real estate, the chances are that it affects you in some way. Am I right?
Fortunately for those of us in the Central Massachusetts area, our market is slightly better than the nation as a whole. Part of this is due to our diverse business market which includes medical, financial, retail, manufacturing and the catch all "high tech". The most recent figures indicate our jobless rate dropped from 9.2% to 8.9% and - there are jobs being advertised. Employers are hiring! My view is that this statistic is the critical element and more job growth is needed before we see a true economic recovery and before we see empty office and warehouse space "filled up". So, we're headed in the right ddirection.
In fact, on Christmas Day, the Boston Globe reported that the recent trend of a declining Massachusetts population has reversed itself in the past year. Based on immigration trends and birth rates, we saw a positive increase in polulation from July 2008 to July 2009. Where it was forecasted that we might lose a congressional seat, this is no longer a given. To see the entire article, click reversing population trend.
I'm interested in your view of where we're headed in our hiring and general growth pattern in Central Mass. Does your crystal ball foretell more hiring in the first quarter? Second quarter? If you have any specific thoughts I'll be glad to share them with our other readers.
The various news media try to report their data accurately, I'm sure. But let's face it. We tend to create a market for bad news. If a boy scout helps a little old lady across the street - that's not reportable news. If that same scout accidentally bumped that little old lady off the side walk into the path of a moving vehicle - that's front page! And that's how I see the news media reporting about the real estate market in general and the commercial real estate market specifically. It's more newsworthy to report that mortgage defaults and foreclosures are up than to comment that a local employer in a Worcester industrial industry just rehired laid off employees or that a new company came to town and set up a new operation. These are often found on the first page of the business section, but not the front page.
My goal is to tell the story about the glass half full.
Share your stories in the comments section below so we can all feel a little better about our market. The realtiy is that as we feel better we'll respond in kind and begin to make things happen.
So, are you a glass haf full or a glass helf empty type of business person?
This article contributed by:
Robert L. Yale, CCIM
bobyale@svn.com
508-351-7079
Central Massachusetts Commercial Real Estate