DeLand, FL – Economic experts think unemployment will keep falling and construction – especially for homes – will keep growing in Volusia County now that 2015 has turned into 2016.
The latest Volusia County quarterly economic report shows overall unemployment at 5.1% for the 4th quarter of 2015, a full percentage point under the same period in 2014. It’s also just above the 4.9% posted for Florida and the United States for the final 3 months of last year.
Speaking at the last County Council meeting, Volusia County Director of Economic Development Rob Ehrhardt says 2015 ended on a high note for the most part and he expects that trend to continue in 2016.
“We all feel a lot of positive momentum coming out of 2015,” Ehrhardt added. “[There has been] a lot of great projects that have really brought some great visibility to Volusia County.”
The actual number of local unemployed people for last October, November and December is 12,141, nearly 2,500 less than in the 4th quarter of 2014. That’s a net change of 19.8%. The labor force fell slightly from 238,200 to 237,553, a drop of 0.3%.
At the city level, Port Orange led the way with 4.3% unemployment, followed by Ormond Beach at 4.6%, Deltona at 5.2% and DeLand at 5.4%. Daytona Beach’s 6.0% was highest for all Volusia cities with 25,000 or more residents.
Daytona Beach also had a 1.2% drop in unemployment rate compared to the same time in 2014. That’s the largest drop for all Volusia cities. Deltona’s dropped 1% and Ormond Beach’s fell 0.9%. Port Orange’s sunk 0.7% and DeLand’s fell to 0.6%.
In terms of construction, Volusia had over $425 million in residential permits filed for 2015. That’s a 13% increase compared to 2014. The county also had 1,375 residential permits filed in 2015, 16% more than the year prior.
DeLand led the way at the city level with 94 residential permits filed for over $31 million dollars in the final 3 months of 2015. DeLand led the way in that category all year long other than the first quarter of 2015. New Smyrna Beach had the most then.
The unincorporated parts of Volusia had 67 residential permits valued at over $20.1 million while Daytona Beach came in #3 with 62 permits valued at just under $13.4 million.
Even though they had fewer permits than Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach (50) and Ormond Beach (43) had better value at $16.9 million and $16.7 million, respectively.
Commercial construction took a dive in 2015, with Volusia getting around $153 million from 93 permits filed. 2014 saw $324 million from 97 permits filed, but about half of that number came from the $152 million permit filed for the Daytona Rising project. Even if you take Daytona Rising out, it’s still an 11% drop.
Daytona led the way by far in construction permits for the final quarter of 2015, scoring 21 for a value of $41.7 million. Most of that came from the Tanger Outlets project being built on LPGA Boulevard near Interstate 95.
Foreclosures continue to fall in Volusia, with 400 reported for the final quarter of 2015. That’s the lowest since at least 2013, according to county data. There were also just over 400 foreclosed homes sold in the final 3 months of last year, also the lowest since at least 2013.
Copyright 2016 Southern Stone Communications.