Encouraging signs for local economy - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

Home construction is making a comeback and that could breathe new life into the fragile U-S economy. Builders started single-family homes and apartments in September at the fastest rate in more than four years. Some say that is just one of the signs that the economy is continuing to get better.

Jeff Korzenik is the Chief Investment Strategist for 5/3 bank. He says even more progress is right around the corner as soon as we get the election behind us. He also says the outlook continues to improve for Northwest Ohio, "Americans are resilient and our economy is resilient. We're getting through this and we see improvement on so many levels."

Experts say a lot of that improvement is tied to the housing market right now. In addition to the best home construction numbers in four years, builders are requesting more permits in the coming months, a show of confidence in the recovery. The pace is expected to keep going up, fueled by record low mortgage rates and more stable prices, "People have been renting, and rental rates are going up, so in places like Toledo, that is getting many renters to look at buying."

The recovery in the housing market is good news on both the local and national scales, but Korzenik says there's also encouraging news specific to the industrial Midwest, "We're seeing what is called a re-shoring of manufacturing jobs, these are jobs that were once out-sourced to places like China and they are now coming back to the United States. That is a trend we see going on for a decade or more."

Of course progress stalls a bit during the campaign season, "For all the disagreements we hear about during the campaign season, there are actually a lot of areas where the parties agree, but compromise will be held up until after the election."

Korzenik says we are half way through the cyclical recovery. He says this was not a traditional recession, but rather what economists used to call a financial panic. By 5/3 Bank's count there have been 15 financial panics in the United States, most of them in the 19th century.

Korzenik is meeting with a number of different groups during his stay in the Toledo area. He will be here through Thursday.