FIRE: Finance, Insurance, Real Estate

The industries described in this segment include finance, insurance and real estate. The finance industry consists of all types of financial institutions, including commercial banks, savings institutions, credit unions, non‐depository credit intermediaries, brokerages, investment banks, portfolio managers, and other activities related to credit intermediation. The insurance industry consists of insurance carriers of all kinds and insurance agencies and brokerages. The real estate industry consists of various lessors of real estate, offices of real estate agents and brokers, and any activities related to real estate such as property managers.

The Lower Eastern Shore is not particularly known for its strong finance, insurance and real estate industries. However, there is an opportunity for growth in these industries, particularly in real estate, due to the large amount of tourism in region.

From 2012 to 2016 the number of financial establishments in the region remained constant with only three fewer establishments. In contrast the number of paid employees increased by roughly 25%, which indicates the establishments are growing in size and productivity. From 2012 to 2016 the number of insurance establishments decreased by 4.7%, but the number of paid employees increased by 5.2%. Out of the total population in the region with private health insurance alone or in combination in 2017, 77% of the population has employer-based health insurance, 20% has direct‐purchase health insurance and 3% has Tricare/military health insurance. Out of the total population living below the 138% poverty threshold, 31% of them have private health insurance coverage alone or in combination, which indicates the remaining 69% have either public health insurance coverage or no coverage at all.

There has been an upward trend in the number of homes sold and the average sale price in the region. The number of active and new listings of homes in the region has remained constant the last five years, but the number of homes sold in 2018 was 3,848, an increase of 34% from 2014. This is a positive indicator for the housing market in the region because the number of homes being sold has increased even though the number of homes listed remained constant. The average sales price in 2018 was $235,466, which was a 13% increase from 2014. This indicates more homes are going to closing and at a higher selling price overall.

Moving forward, there are concerns regarding the ability of the finance and insurance industries to attract young workers from within the area or to attract them to the region. As a result, many students are not staying in the area following graduation from post‐secondary schools such as Wor‐Wic Community College, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Salisbury University. Because of the higher median wage and buying power of college graduates the financial, insurance and real estate industries rely on them as clientele. In order to keep these students in the area, business leaders need to work with institutions of higher education to recruit students looking for a job post‐graduation. There is also a concern regarding the commercial real estate industry. Some observers note that the perceived value of a number of commercial real estate assets are lower than their list prices. This could become a cause for concern if the economy cools down. There is also an upward trend on auto and health insurance premiums in the region.