Arlington County is on the Top 10 list of non-economically stressed Areas in the US
After reading a rather uplifting article from The Director of Arlington Economic Development, Dr. Terry Holzheimer, I have discovered that Arlington County has been announced by the Associated Press as one of the top ten “Least Stressed Counties.” Dr. Holzheimer puts an interesting point out there in this month’s issue of The Arlingtonian; why is Arlington County on a this list with counties that seem so very different than our community?
Who was on the Associated Press list of the top 10 “Least Economically Stressed” Counties in the US:
- Ward County, ND
- Brookings County, SD
- Ellis County, KS
- Burleigh County, ND
- Ford County, KS
- Brown County, SD
- Grand Forks County, SD
- Buffalo County, ND
- Arlington County, VA
- Sioux County, IA
Take a look at these other counties. As Dr. Holzheimer points out, “with the exception of Arlington” it seems that they are all in fairly rural areas. We can chalk this status up to a number of things- we live near the capital, we have a huge federal contractor and government worker base, we have a strongly educated demographic, and a community that seems to continually grow, even in these tougher economic times. To those of us who live in Arlington County, this is a great thing. It means that our unemployment rate is low, as are our rate of foreclosure and bankruptcy. Mr. Holzheimer states that “Arlington has fared well….our unemployment rate is the lowest in Virginia at 4.0 percent.” Thanks to Mr. Holzheimer for bringing this to our attention! Arlington County shouldn’t be stressed… in fact, the associated press is telling us that we aren’t.
What does this mean for people who own real estate or are looking to buy real estate in Arlington County? If you follow the market reports put out by Arbour Realty on a monthly basis, you will know that our market has been a seller’s market for a few months now, with such great interest rates for those who can qualify for loans, people who are able to take advantage of these low rates are able to put in competitive offers on the properties of their choice. Since our area is still experiencing growth, i.e. federal consultants gaining contracts, huge BRAC realignments bringing more hardworking folks to the area, it seems we are going to continue to see the growth. We can never predict the market, we can just be thankful we are in an area where we earn titles such as these, even if we are on a list with locations which seem to be the opposite of our urban oasis. If you are interested in more information about the market in your area, email me and I’ll be happy to send you a full-scale report.
Have you been checking out the market watch that is at the bottom of my homepage? If you go to the main page, you will see that on the 10th of every month, a market report is launched straight from the MLS. This means that you can keep on top of what is going on in your community and see what sort of approach you need to take for your needs. It is created in a very general format, but it puts forth valuable information from the previous month of activity in the Northern Virginia Real Estate Market.
