Acadia Community: March 2012

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

The Best Job Market in the Country: Greenville, SC

The country continues to move in the right direction with 227,000 new jobs in the month of February, 2012 alone. This marks the third straight month of job gains over 200,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While these numbers are certainly comforting in their own right, there is even more to be optimistic about. Manpower Group, an employment services firm, recently released a survey of 18,000 employers in 100 metropolitan areas that predicts a continuation of this upward trend for the next three-month period. Employers in all 50 states are planning to continue increasing their payrolls this spring.

What’s really exciting about the survey, however, is what it said about the job market here in the Greenville, South Carolina area. As reported by Forbes magazine, this survey shows the Greenville, South Carolina area has the most optimistic forecast for hiring in the country, with a 24% net employment outlook. Greenville was once known as the “Textile Capital of the World.” We are now a major engineering hub, with more engineers per capita here than any other place in the world, and with more international manufacturing investment per capita than anywhere else in the country. Considering the presence of BMW, Michelin, GE, Fluor, and Lockheed Martin, it is not surprising that our Upstate communities are attracting so much entrepreneurial growth. With a strong talent pool already in place, Greenville is in the perfect position to continue this trend of jobs creation.

Acadia, our favorite residential community in Greenville, is also growing as a result of this trend. Acadia has new custom homes and home sites, English cottages and townhomes under construction and immediately available for newcomers relocating to the Upstate; perfect for those looking to right-size and balance their lifestyle with beautiful outdoors-oriented neighborhoods in this master-planned, new urban community. Visit www.AcadiaSC.com, and Discover Life in Balance.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Consumer Confidence in Acadia

In Greenville, South Carolina, as well as the rest of the Southeast, there is an encouraging upward trend in pending home sales. Local real estate experts believe that “the consumer has determined that there is no upside to continue and wait for the bottom of the housing market.” A combination of shrinking inventory, current low interest rates, and fair pricing provides the perfect opportunity for would-be homeowners. Pending sales for South Carolina rose by 19.7% in January, 2012. The Southeast saw an increase of 7.7%.

Consumer confidence has been boosted by more than just the strengthening housing market. People are beginning to feel more optimistic about their job security. The recent Consumer Confidence Index now stands at 70.8. While a score of 90 indicates a healthy economy, things are much better than the low consumer index of 25.3 seen back in 2009. Everyone certainly has cause to be more optimistic lately, since the Dow Jones closed this week over 13,000 for the first time since 2008. While Wall Street is wondering whether the Dow will backslide or not, we here at Acadia are cheering for 14,000 and up.

In the meantime, our Acadia community is growing with confidence. We have sold 3 luxury townhomes and several custom homesites in the last month. We also have 10 families on the list for customized English Cottage homes and luxury townhomes to be built this year in Acadia. With consumer confidence on the rise, Acadia stands to benefit. New homes, custom lots, new townhomes and English cottage homes are helping attract new neighbors to our Acadia community. Visit Acadia at www.AcadiaSC.com, and discover Life in Balance.