For many Americans, the home is a family’s single most valuable and viable economic asset. Times are good when you’re in the clear and not so good when you’re under water.
And according to a new report out from the Demand Institute, local housing markets, when coupled with income and employment, are often the strongest predictors of local and national economic outlook.
The report identified nine different community types, which range from “affluent metroburbs” to “endangered communities.”
And one of the data points that we found most interesting was towns or cities considered to be in “transition”—former centers of industry that are simultaneously trying to weather the economic storm and fashion a new identity.
Will these communities in transition sink or swim in the years ahead? Weighing in are two local business owners from two transitional cities across the U.S.
John Guarisco is the executive manager at MDI Marketing in Spokane, Washington, and Mark Dolfini is the owner of June Palms Property Management, in Lafayette, Indiana.
Together Guarisco and Dolfini share a mostly positive tale of two cities that are highlighted in the Demand Institute’s interactive map, dubbed “A Tale of 2,000 Cities.” The map (below) looks across the U.S. to explore the health of the U.S. housing market and the future health of local American economies.