- The overall index expanded from November’s weak reading, but remained below growth neutral. Over the past year, the overall index is up by 11 percent.
- Retail sales unexpectedly soared for the month.
- Bankers reported an average yearly cash rent per acre of $205 which is down by approximately 10 percent from two years earlier.
- Only slightly more than one-fifth, or 20.4 percent, of bankers reported that their local economy was expanding.
- Approximately one in three bankers reported a decline in bank-financed farmland purchases over the past two to five years. This continues a downward trend in bank-financed farmland purchases.
OMAHA, Neb. (Dec. 21, 2017) – The Creighton University Rural Mainstreet Index improved from November’s weak reading but remained below growth neutral, according to the latest monthly survey of bank CEOs in rural areas of a 10-state region dependent on agriculture and/or energy.
Overall: The index, like all indices in the survey, ranges between 0 and 100 with 50.0 representing growth neutral, expanded to 47.8 from 44.7 in November. While the overall index remained below growth neutral, it is up approximately 11.4 percent from December, 2016.
“While the overall Rural Mainstreet Index (RMI) for December remained below growth neutral, this is the highest December reading that we have recorded since 2014. Clearly, based on our recent surveys, the negatives are getting less negative,” said Ernie Goss, Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business.
Only one-fifth, or 20.4 percent, of bank CEOs reported that their local economy was expanding. While this indicator remains bearish, it is well up from the 8.7 percent reporting an expanding local economy in February 2016.