MANDEVILLE, LA – The St. Tammany Economic Development Foundation (STEDF) has released its second quarter reports on St. Tammany economic trends and parish growth, as well as its annual summary of local economic data for the past decade.
Brenda Bertus, CEO of STEDF, said, “In releasing three reports at once, we hope to better serve our St. Tammany residents and business leaders. This information will be invaluable in making economic and financial decisions in the months ahead.”
In the quarterly reports, commercial building permits saw the highest increase, with 66.3 percent more permits issued year-to-date than in the similar period last year. The average sales price of residential real estate rose 20.1 percent compared with the second quarter of 2014.
Overall growth of the parish economy increased by 3.8 percent from both the previous quarter and the corresponding quarter last year.
According to the data presented in the Ten Year Summary, total wages in St. Tammany rose 89.6 percent between 2004 and 2014—from $1.9 billion to $3.6 billion. The number of hotel receipts rose 78.8 percent in the past decade and 27.6 percent in the past five years.
The Economic Trends report discusses employment, sales tax collections and housing trends as well as other factors that contribute to the state of the local economy.
The Parish Growth report measures overall parish growth, combining economic factors into a unifying picture.
The Ten Year Summary reports a comprehensive, long-term look at changes in St. Tammany’s economic trends. The latest report covers trends between 2004 and 2014. Factors include population growth, parish employment, apartment rent and sales tax collections.
