The Kootenai County economy won't be as vibrant in 2009 as it was earlier this decade, but business advocates there aren't anticipating a bust either.

"Things have slowed down, but we're faring a bit better than most of the country," says Jonathan Coe, CEO and general manager of the Coeur d'Alene Area Chamber of Commerce.

Construction has wound down on the $50 million Parkside tower project on the east end of downtown Coeur d'Alene, and other prominent office buildings have been completed on the west side of town, Coe says. Work, however, is continuing at the Riverstone mixed-use project in Northwest Coeur d'Alene, which announced six retail tenants in the summer, with more on the way for 2009.

Construction on other big projects, such as the $19.5 million Coeur d'Alene Federal Courthouse and the $35 million Salvation Army Coeur d'Alene Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center, will continue into 2009.

In midtown, Coeur d'Alene is looking to start another phase of economic revitalization, with a $3 million beautification project on Fourth Street after doing similar projects earlier on Northwest Boulevard and in the downtown, Coe says.

The residential real estate market, however, has continued to slow in Kootenai County this year, the third consecutive year it has declined. In the six months ended Oct. 31, the number of homes sold fell 28 percent from the year-earlier period, while median home prices fell 3.5 percent.

Chuck Ryan, a real estate agent with Coeur d'Alene-based Century 21 Beutler & Associates, predicts that the residential real estate market is about to bottom out and will turn around once the "people are settled in" with the new presidential administration.

"By the second quarter, things should start moving again," Ryan says.

He says recently falling interest rates are enhancing buying opportunities. One such opportunity was a transaction he handled recently involving a 30-year fixed-rate loan with 5.25 percent interest, he says.

Last year's concern about whether there would be workers available for employers won't be an issue in 2009, says Kathryn Tacke, Coeur d'Alene-based economist with the Idaho Department of Labor.

The November unemployment rate for Kootenai County was 6.9 percent, up from 3 percent a year earlier.

The wood-products industry took the biggest hit in jobs lost with a reduction of 160 jobs, or 17 percent of the industry's work force in Kootenai County. That's partially due to a national decline in new housing starts, but some jobs, where mills have closed entirely, aren't likely to return, she says.

Tacke doesn't expect a sub-5 percent unemployment rate to return any time soon, although she says Kootenai County has grown jobs during the previous two recessions as the economy shifted from a natural-resource base to the service and tourism industries.

Other than the wood-products industry, the manufacturing sector has remained healthy in Kootenai County despite declines in such jobs nationwide, she says.

Tacke says manufacturers will benefit from falling fuel prices, which also should help the ailing transportation sector in Kootenai County.

Manufacturing and tourism might both be hurt if the U.S. dollar continues to gain strength against other currencies, she says. When the dollar is weak, foreign concerns are able to buy more U.S. goods.

A weak dollar also attracts foreign tourists, she says. For instance, the exchange-rate between the U.S. and Canada favored Canadians for most of the year, but that turned around later in the year, and the number of Canadians visiting Kootenai County dropped correspondingly, she says.

As far as domestic tourism goes, late snow may delay the start of the winter tourism season, but Coe says he expects tourists will come back to the Lake City in near-normal numbers by next summer.