Rising Home Prices Bolster Boise’s Economic Turnaround, Report Says

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Clouds lift over Boise's downtown.

Boise continues to rank near the top in a survey of 100 U.S. cities’ economic recoveries.  That’s thanks mainly to its home price improvement since the depths of the downturn.

The report, published by The Brookings Institution, evaluates cities’ economies as of the third quarter, from July to September of this year.  It ranks Boise number five.

Boise’s home prices have improved by 7.5 percent since their post-recession low point, the second best rate of home price improvement posted by any city included in the report.  The city’s gross metropolitan product — better understood as its total output of goods and services — has grown by more than 9 percent.  The city ranks 21st on that measure. 

On the employment and unemployment measures, Boise doesn’t fare quite as well.

While the city’s unemployment rate is more than two points below it’s post-recession high, it’s a rate of improvement that puts the city near the middle of the pack.  Boise’s employment rate improvement is similarly unexceptional.

A separate Brookings report that looks specifically at the Intermountain West says Boise is among the U.S. cities leading the way out of the economic downturn, but it also points out that employment flat-lined in the city in the third quarter.