|
• Snow Closings
|
|
| Tue, Feb. 09 - - Mobile - RSS | |
| YOUR TOWN: Caroline | Culpeper | King George | Fredericksburg | Orange | Spotsylvania | Stafford | Westmoreland | |
|
|
Housing slump hits related retail hard
Taxable sales decline in Fredericksburg area, led by those tied to ailing housing marketDate published: 10/28/2009 BY BILL FREEHLING The segments of the local retail market that are tied to the housing market have taken perhaps the biggest hit during the recession. Sales of furniture/home furnishings and building materials have suffered the worst of the declines in the Fredericksburg area, Christine Chmura told about 210 area business and government leaders during the Fredericksburg Regional Alliance's annual meeting Monday. She is president of Richmond-based Chmura Economics & Analytics. Second-quarter sales data from the Virginia Department of Taxation bear out Chmura's message Monday. The second-quarter figures are the latest available. Taxable sales at furniture and home furnishings stores in the city of Fredericksburg and the counties of Stafford and Spotsylvania were $14.5 million in the three months ending this past June 30. That's a 53.2 percent decline from the taxable sales for that business segment in those three localities during the second quarter of 2006, when housing prices were peaking. The declines for furniture and home furnishings sales have moderated since then, but were still down 42.7 percent for the three-locality area in the second quarter from the same period in 2007 and 28.9 percent from the same period in 2008. It's a similar story in the business segment labeled "Building Material and Garden Equipment and Supplies Dealers." Second-quarter 2009 taxable sales for the three-locality area in that segment declined 42.6 percent from the same period in 2006, 30.7 percent from 2007 and 8.6 percent from 2008. One bright spot for building material sales is a 15.6 percent increase in Stafford between the second quarters of 2008 and 2009. Stafford has been seeing an increase in residential building permits this year, perhaps due in part to the new jobs coming to the Quantico Marine Corps Base in 2011. Though building materials and home furnishings have been among the most affected by the recession, they're not alone. Overall taxable sales declined in the three-locality area 12.2 percent between the second quarters of 2006 and 2009. Taxable sales during this year's second quarter fell in that area 7.4 percent from 2007 and 4.3 percent from 2008.
Date published: 10/28/2009
|
 |
|||
|
|||
