PERIMETER BUSINESS
Perimeter market improving,
By Dan Whisenhunt
Dr. Roger Tutterow told the Sandy
Springs/Perimeter Chamber of Com
merce that the economy is on the re
bound, but not back to pre-Recession
levels.
During his April 15 remarks at the
group's regular breakfast meeting, he
discussed the national and local econ
omy. Tutterow teaches economics at
Mercer University and also works as
a consultant for corporate clients.
The inability of the economy to add
jobs to bring the employment rolls
back to pre-Recession levels points to
a deeper issue, Tutterow said.
"Now, five years after we start
ed into this downturn, we are still
over 2 million [jobs] below where
we were," he said. "The problem
with this economy is that asset pric
es remain subdued, employment
has not come back to pre-Recession
levels, and thus we cannot slight the
household sector for being less than
enthusiastic about the pace of their
own spending."
It's a mixed bag of economic news,
but he said the Perimeter market can
find comfort in its decline in office va
cancies and its ability to sell homes.
"In terms of the office market, we
are seeing improvements and, proba
bly, here in the corridor, we're seeing
the rates come down the quickest,"
Tutterow said.
Housing has also shown signs of
improvement in the Perimeter mar
ket, he said.
"If you're on the northern dough
nut, reasonably close to 1-285, in a
good school district, you can sell
them as fast as you can build them
right now," Tutterow said. "The prob
lem is can they get the financing to
build the homes."
Tutterow said political brinksman-
ship on the country's debt was like a
gut-punch to consumer confidence,
in 2011 sending levels to where they
were during some of the darkest days
of the Recession.
"My argument was that Main
Street America, Main Street Georgia,
Main Street Atlanta, lost confidence
in the governments and Europe and
in the U.S. to get their fiscal house in
order," Tutterow said.
"The political games we played in
economist tells chamber
DAN WHISENHUNT
Dr. Roger Tutterow spoke at the Sandy Springs Perimeter Chamber
of Commerce Bagels and Business Breakfast on April 15.
terms of threatening to default on our
treasury obligations, threatening to
shut down the government, caused
household confidence to plummet."
Tutterow said home prices are up
13 percent, but are still 27 percent low
er prior to where they were before the
"correction in the housing market."
"We still have a lot of work to do,"
Tutterow said.
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14 | APRIL 19— MAY2,2013 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net
