Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati Housing Report (Lexington-Fayette, Lexington: 2009, first time home buyer, unemployment rate)

[Mike Dunn]

This article in The Cincinnati Enquirer was interesting. Possibly helpful to first time home buyers and relocation buyers.

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs...4050306&Ref=AR

Mike

[EclecticEars]

Great article, thanks for the post!

Cincinnati/NKY was already one of America's most economical places to live, to begin with. One the housing market rebuilds steam and your local economy takes back off, the cheaper housing prices will be yet another reason for people to move to that region.

I've said this plenty of times in person but never on C-D, until now: Northern Kentucky is THE economic future of Kentucky. Period. It's still our state's highest growth area in terms of population and economy, and has much more regional cohesion about economic/quality of life development than do the Louisville and Lexington areas. Without Northern Kentucky we will become Mississippi.

[Kentuckyguy]

Originally Posted by jcm1986

Great article, thanks for the post!

Cincinnati/NKY was already one of America's most economical places to live, to begin with. One the housing market rebuilds steam and your local economy takes back off, the cheaper housing prices will be yet another reason for people to move to that region.

I've said this plenty of times in person but never on C-D, until now: Northern Kentucky is THE economic future of Kentucky. Period. It's still our state's highest growth area in terms of population and economy, and has much more regional cohesion about economic/quality of life development than do the Louisville and Lexington areas. Without Northern Kentucky we will become Mississippi.

I agree with you completely and yet we are so underestimated by the rest of the Commonwealth in a variety of ways! More and more people are moving to Boone County all the time. I wish the rest of KY would realize what a gem we are especially those living in other urban as well as rural areas.

[EclecticEars]

Originally Posted by Kentuckyguy

I agree with you completely and yet we are so underestimated by the rest of the Commonwealth in a variety of ways! More and more people are moving to Boone County all the time. I wish the rest of KY would realize what a gem we are especially those living in other urban as well as rural areas.

I will admit, on the surface it can be deceptively in favor in Louisville and Lexington metros.

Louisville-Jefferson County has added nearly 17,000 new residents this decade, Bullitt and Oldham Counties have each added nearly 10,000 newbies, Spencer is one of America's fastest-growing counties percentagewise, and UofL has recently begun the state's first professional MBA program. BUT, the region has one of the state's highest unemployment rates and if Ford and GE completely shut their doors in ten years, Louisville's u.e. rate in addition to the continually declining economy could feasibly reach 15%.

Lexington-Fayette County has added nearly 20,000 newbies, Scott, Jessamine and Madison Counties continue to boom and the University of Kentucky is a big draw for companies to come to Lexington b/c of the intellectual capital. (Although UK is not a prestigious school and Lexington has a long way to go to become some sort of "Research Triangle.") Oh, and the area has the state's lowest unemployment.

So, why do I think that NKY is Kentucky's future? Well, it's unemployment rate might not be as bad as Lexington's, but not as bad as Louisville's. It might not have any campus of the state's two flagship universities, UK and UofL. The cost of living is on par with the other metropolitan areas in this region (Lexington excepted, b/c it's a little more expensive.)

Northern Kentucky has this thriving airport that is an international hub for passengers and cargo. Who knew that you could fly to Frankfurt, London or Rio de Janiero from the Commonwealth of Kentucky? (What would really be nice is seeing the Kenton County Airport Board "loosen up" their exclusive contract with Delta, still finding a way to provide Delta incentive to stay in NKY but resulting in a reduction of rates for all passengers and maybe even some cheaper airline like Southwest to come in and provide more competition. I know I'm probably dreaming.)

New industries galore have sprung up near the airport in Boone and Kenton Counties b/c of the airport, very high traffic volume of I-75/71 and proximity to Cincinnati. Northern Kentucky University is obviously the main university there, but you also have tremendous resources from UC, Xavier and Miami just across the river; so in cohesion with Southwest Ohio you have much, much more intellectual capital to pull from than Louisville or Lexington.

Boone County has grown from 57,000 residents in 1990 to nearly 120,000 today is has long been KY's fastest-growing county in terms of raw numbers, as well as KY's second wealthiest county. Boone County and Fort Thomas have outstanding public schools, and Boone and Kenton Counties have outstanding Catholic schools. The only region of the state that could give NKY a run for its money in terms of K-12 would be Louisville and its suburb Oldham County, and even at that most of the public schools in Louisville just plain suck.

Northern Kentucky has done some amazing things with itself considering something else: The Rule of Fifths. It's the statute in the Kentucky Revised Statutes that, in a nutshell, favors rural counties with under 25,000 very heavily in new road projects. Why do you think a 4-lane KY 3 exists b/t Prestonsburg and Inez, out in the middle of nowhere? Why do you think KY 15 is being widened to four lanes from Campton to Hazard, a declining part of the state? Oh, the biggest one, was the Cumberland Gap Tunnel really that needed? Although much of that was federal funding, I'm not sure if it was needed. NKY, like Louisville and Lexington, has had its transportation system neglected for years, and that's why except for I-275 there's no really good way to get across NKY, and that's why we have a Brent Spence Bridge that I absolutely never drive on. Still, despite these circumstances NKY has great regional economic development cohesion that is very attractive to new companies, as well as present companies to stay.

Lastly, here in downstate Kentucky I meet very few Northern Kentuckians (except on the college campuses.) I guess that means many of them head back home after they graduate.