By Meladi Brewer

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Darke County Chamber of Commerce met Friday to host its annual Ground Hog Day Luncheon on Feb. 2 at Romer’s Catering.

Ground Hog Day for the chamber signifies the importance of an economic forecast to predict the upcoming year’s financial standing for the following year. This year’s panelists included Dan Douglas with Dayton Realtor’s, Curt Brooks with Greenville National Banking, John Schipfer with Greenville Federal, and Commissioner Marshall Combs.

“A recent survey showed that business are finding that finding qualified workers remains the single most difficult business challenge,” Rachael Neal President of the Chamber said. “The unemployment rate for Darke County at the end of 2023 was 2.5 percent.”

Neal said inflation is continuing to increase and effect everyone. She introduced the panel saying fortunately they are able to forecast the financial stability moving forward in 2024.

“I know a lot of people, the last couple of years, have been used to downturns in real estate market and scary times to buy and sell houses, but that seems to be turning around this next year,” Douglas said.

They are predicting a turn around within the housing market that will project an increase in home sales in 2024.

“It’ll be up 13.5 percent. Nationally, it is versus 4 million last year, so it is a really good sign,” Douglas said. “The prices are going to increase about point nine percent, but then it’ll stabilize throughout the year.”

Nationally, Douglas said they are at about $389,000 median price for a home, and in Ohio it is a little lower with the median price being around $285,000.

“Those prices are predicted to level out this year which will be really great,” Douglas said.

Job growth is predicted to increase in the midwest which will in turn increase the demand for housing sales. Douglas said the federal interest rates are predicted to decrease meaning the 30 year fixed interest rate mortgages that peaked at eight percent are going to be peaking at about six percent.

“The difference between that interest rate psychologically for consumers is going to show an increase in house purchases, as people have been pushing off selling their homes because they were worried about interest rates, inflation, but that is going to level out,” Douglas said.

Douglas predicts rent stabilisation as well within the market. Commissioner Combs touched on the housing market and the need for affordable housing within the county as well. He said the need is here because of the county’s predicted population growth.

Combs advised he didn’t mean to scare anyone by this, but he recently saw some research by the Ohio Development Office of Research that recently did a study on the counties in Ohio. It was based off population and what is going to be happening in the next 25 years.

“The statistic is the projection in Darke County by 2050 is our population is going to decrease by 14.37 percent,” Combs said. “That is a very large number, and we have already seen it decreasing over the last few years.”

There is a need to figure out what the causes are, how to fix it, and how to get it to go the other way.

“It is not a quick fix, but it is a number that really concerns me and a reason why I wanted to get involved in this community,” Combs said.

Combs said the county has “a big job gap” between those retiring and those who are filling the rolls. One of the ways the county is trying fill the job force is through an internship program where the Darke County Economic Development is working with Miami University students and high school students to get them involved in the opportunities the county offers.

“I never went to college. It wasn’t an option for me, as I was a terrible student,” Combs said. “The Economic Development office is doing phenomenal work to develop the students’ interests and skills, so when they graduate college isn’t the only option.”

The DCED is also working to bring college students into the county for internships to show that rural communities have just as much to offer as a city. He spoke to the business owners, consumers, and community leaders asking them to help “change the tide” and encourage young professionals to stay in the county or even move into the area.

“Losing this kind of population in the future, just think about what that is going to do to our infrastructure, our school districts, and our small businesses that are supported by our population,” Combs said.

Combs challenged those in the housing development field to try and see how they could make affordable houses within the county. He said there is a growing need for the housing market to increase within the county and from talking to those who wish to move in, Combs is hearing there aren’t many options.

“I personally have talked to several people over the last few years that have been looking to purchase a home in our county recently because they have gotten a job or a career here, and there simply isn’t a house for sale they want or in the area they want,” Combs said.

He challenged the housing development field saying they are looking for homes in the area to support the people who are looking to buy houses here, and Combs would like to see it done with a lower cost.

“People who are renting are trying to buy, and there is not enough inventory to buy,” Combs said. “With building houses, they do need to be affordable.”

Combs said the big, custom built homes are great for those who have lived a successful career, but when it comes to younger communities who are coming into the county with the new jobs they are starting, “we need more affordable housing.”

A guest in the audience advised the panel that she believes today with all the rising costs for land, construction, and development costs “a builder cannot put in affordable housing.”

“I think it’s going to come down to the government: county, federal, state, offering some assistance for these builders to get in there because affordable housing is not $300,000,” the female guest said. “I just think we are going to have to look at it another way.”

To learn more about the Darke County Chamber of Commerce, visit www.darkecountyohio.com/.

To contact Daily Advocate Reporter Meladi Brewer, email [email protected].