Local business leaders bullish on Flathead economy

How good is the local economy?

Glacier Bank Executive Vice President Dennis Beams put things in perspective at the Flathead Valley Economic Outlook forum Wednesday when he announced that in 2003, $1.149 billion worth of mortgages were recorded in Flathead County.

"It was an unbelievable year because interest rates hit an all-time low," Beams said, noting that subdivision growth was the driving force.

A total of 312 lenders were involved in the 7,789 transactions that led to the $1.149 billion figure.

While interest rates stayed just as low in 2004, the dollar value of mortgages recorded likely won't match 2003, Beams said. Through the end of November 2004, 5,160 loans had closed with 292 lenders, for a total of $848.9 million, according to information compiled by Real Estate Solutions.

Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages could rise to 7 percent by the end of 2005, but that probably won't be enough to hinder the lending momentum, Beams predicted. If interest rates move from 5.6 to 6.8 percent, that's an increase of about $92 a month in a homeowner's mortgage payment.

"That's not enough to stop people from buying homes," he said. "I don't see interest rates shutting off the spigot."

Flathead County's number crunchers were out in force for the third annual forum sponsored by Jobs Now Inc. and area chambers of commerce.

Gregg Davis, an economist at Flathead Valley Community College, and research associates Denise Grabowski and Lynette Smith shared the first round of statistics from a local wage and benefit survey.

Real-estate appraiser Jim Kelley capped the forum with a detailed presentation of what happened in the county's housing market last year.

Data from the wage survey is still being compiled, but Grabowski and Smith revealed a number of statistics that piqued the audience's interest. Close to 200 surveys were returned, and the questionnaire will soon be posted on the Jobs Now Web site so more businesses can download the survey, complete it and return it to the FVCC Center for Business Information and Research.

As expected, pay for many local jobs lags behind the national average.

In the executive secretary/administrative assistant comparison, people holding those job titles in the financial and insurance industry make $36,788 a year nationally but earn only $20,342 in Flathead County.

In the real estate/rentals/leasing businesses, the national median for executive secretaries and assistants is $33,550, but in Flathead County it's $13,500. Smith explained the anomaly, noting that if businesses reported only the high and low salaries for that job and not the average, it was difficult to extrapolate a median pay.

The audience showed interest in wages for accountants in the construction industry, where that job pays a median of $37,700 annually in Kalispell, but only $17,250 in Bigfork and $28,990 in Whitefish.

General laborers in the construction industry earn the most in Columbia Falls, where the median pay is $24,960. Laborers in Whitefish earn $22,380, in Bigfork the median is $20,000 and in Kalispell it is $18,000.

General managers of construction firms earn $54,000 in Kalispell, $41,600 in Whitefish and $37,050 in Bigfork.

Davis noted that respondents self-assigned their occupations, and in small businesses, one employee may wear several different hats. In those cases, they responded according to the job they spend the most time doing.

Information gleaned from the benefits portion of the survey should be helpful to local employers looking for creative ways to provide worker benefits, Davis said.

Survey results showed a wide range of paid holidays offered by local employers, including Mother's Day, birthdays and the day after hunting season opens. Many employers have found ways to offer alternative benefits, sometimes in lieu of more conventional benefits such as paid health insurance.

Kelley, who operates Kelley Appraisal in Kalispell, pumped out dozens of impressive statistics in his 2004 Flathead County housing market report.

Last year, 510 lots were created in Kalispell and new residential units totaled 480. Of those 480 new housing units, 192 were single-family homes, 30 were duplexes, 127 were townhomes, 130 were multi-unit buildings and one was a manufactured home.

Homes sold for a median price of $186,500 last year, up 16.6 percent over 2003. That's roughly double the $93,700 median a decade ago.

In 2004, 1,759 homes were sold, according to Kelley's figures. The most expensive home sold for $13.5 million.

Trophy homes are getting a bigger share of the real-estate market. Last year, 104 homes sold for more than $500,000, while 42 sold for more than $1 million. Ten years ago, 30 sold for more than $500,000 and only three were more than $1 million.

Information shared at the economic outlook forum helps with business recruitment, said Liz Harris, executive director of Jobs Now. Potential employers frequently request wage information along with data on the local economy and housing.

More extensive coverage of the Flathead Valley Economic Outlook will be in the Flathead Business Journal in Saturday's Inter Lake.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com