Good job growth will help the Charleston housing market recovery
Let's face it. You really can't buy a house if you don't have a job. And if you aren't secure in your current job, you probably shouldn't be buying a house anyway, after all, lenders sort of demand it as a condition of making a loan.
The good news from today's March job report is that not only were 222,000 private sector jobs created but the unemployment rate dropped below that psychologically important 9 percent level to 8.9 percent.
One of the reasons that the Charleston real estate market has performed better than many other places around the country is because the Charleston economy has been fairly strong. That doesn't mean that we didn't suffer like everyone else around the country, it was simply milder here.
Sure, some people in Charleston lost their jobs and subsequently had difficulty making their mortgage payments and some have lost (or are about to lose) their home to foreclosure. But if the economy can continue to improve, that should translate into more people being able to get current on their home (and other bills) and there will be fewer distressed sales.
And as you can see from the chart, job growth nationally has started to gain traction and get more consistent. That's good news for a housing market recovery.