• Fresh data on employment conditions at the metro level was released this morning. This data has some lag time so the latest information is as of March.
• Jobs are one of the important factors affecting home sales. Among the areas where the housing market crash was brutal, Phoenix and Miami look poised for a sustainable recovery. Phoenix added 40,300 jobs in the past 12 months, while Miami-Ft. Lauderdale added 32,200. Job gains were light in Orlando and Ft. Myers. Las Vegas and the non-coastal California markets were also a step slow in jobs recovery. Turning to the Midwest, Detroit is coming back with 26,600 net new jobs, but Cleveland is showing no traction.
• As for small towns, Ft. Wayne (IN) and all the small towns across North Dakota did very well. The fastest flyers were Lafayette (LA) and Odessa (TX) where they have added 10% or more jobs from just 12 months ago.
• Job performance for every market is shown here.