February 2016 Oregon Regional Economic Indicators

The February 2016 State of Oregon Regional Economic Indexes of was released today. Full report is available here. We thank KeyBank for their generous support of this project.

The ongoing economic expansion continues to be felt in all of Oregon’s major metro regions in February. Highlights of the report include:

• All regions now consistently post numbers (the moving average measures of activity, which smooth monthly volatility) indicating above average growth. Recall that “zero” for these measures indicates relative average growth; each region has its own underlying growth rate.
• Home construction, measured by new housing permits, remains tepid for most regions relative to past economic expansions. The Bend region was an outlier for February, with a strong