Kootenai County business sources say they expect 2010 to usher in a turnaround in several economic sectors there.

They say the residential real estate market appears to have bottomed out, bleeding will slow in the wood-products industry, some manufacturers will enjoy increases in orders, and summer tourist traffic might offset slow spring-season convention bookings. Also, a couple of recent big projects are giving the construction industry glimmers of hope.

The construction outlook is looking better, after a considerable falloff over the last few years, says Kathryn Tacke, labor economist at the Coeur d'Alene office of the Idaho state Department of Labor.

Tacke says construction has started on two Wal-Mart supercenters in the county—one in Post Falls and the other in Hayden—together worth $25.5 million.

"I think construction will be in the ballpark of activity in 2001 and 2002," the start of a commercial construction boom that stalled earlier this year, she says.

Meantime, the number of homes sold in the county appears to have started an upward climb that is expected to last at least through April, when federal tax credits for qualified home buyers are to expire, says Kim Cooper, of the Coeur d'Alene Association of Realtors.

Some 1,552 homes were sold in Kootenai County through November, up 9 percent from 1,411 home sales in the year-earlier period, according to the association's Multiple Listing Service.

Sales were comparable to what they were in 2001, which was the start of the previous upward trend, Cooper says.

New-home construction also is on the rise, he says. During the first 11 months of this year, 27 percent of the homes sold were new homes, up from 25 percent in the year-earlier period.

Sales prices haven't rebounded, although Cooper says he expects them to stabilize in 2010. The median sales price in Kootenai County through November was $167,000, down 12.8 percent from the year-earlier period.

Tacke says she expects to see growth in the county's manufacturing sector.

"One thing surprising about Kootenai County is that if you take out wood products, the county has added a few manufacturing jobs," she says, adding that some companies have reported increases in orders in the last few months, and some have hired employees or have employees working more overtime hours.

The manufacturing and tourism industries both will benefit in 2010 if the U.S. dollar remains weak, Tacke says. When the dollar is weak, foreign concerns are able to buy more U.S. goods, and a weak dollar also attracts Canadian and other international tourists, she says.

Steve Wilson, chairman of the Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce and general manager of the Best Western Coeur d'Alene Inn, says hoteliers share a thread of optimism about 2010, although spring convention bookings haven't improved from the year-earlier season.

Slow spring bookings are showing that companies are being conservative about travel, Wilson says. "Hopefully, it will be offset by stronger tourism demand during the summer," he says.

Tacke says she expects to see a gradual improvement in employment in 2010, assuming that the economy continues to turn around.