Charleston ranks No. 47 in overall economic recovery

A recent Brookings Institute study of economic recovery occurring in the top 100 metropolitan areas ranks Charleston at No. 47 for overall economic recovery.

Greenville tied Charleston for the spot, and the Augusta-Aiken area ranked 23, the study reported. Columbia was tops in the state at No. 14.

The report ranked Charleston highest in one-quarter change in employment, at 13th in the country. Employment in the area grew by 0.3% according to the report.

The area ranked 86th out of 100, however, in one-quarter change in real estate owned properties per 1,000 mortgageable properties, with a 0.47 increase. The U.S. average for that data points is 0.23.

Housing price rankings were middling to fair for the Lowcountry. Three-year change, at a decrease of 16.4%, put the Charleston metro area at 56th; narrowing the focus to one-year change (-11.4%) dropped the area to 74th.

From the report:
Two and a half years after the Great Recession began, the nation’s economic recovery remains jobless and seems more fragile than ever. Inflation-adjusted gross domestic product grew at a moderate 3.0% annual rate in the first quarter of 2010, down from a 5.6% annual growth rate in the last quarter of 2009. Housing markets weakened, and the expiration in April of federal homebuyer tax credits could lead to further weakness later this year.

Nearly half the unemployed were jobless for more than six months. The data available for the nine quarters since the start of the Great Recession indicate that the nation had recovered a smaller percentage of jobs than at a corresponding time after the start of any of the previous three recessions.