This week in 2013, Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah” was selected for induction into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. The song is about as haunting as it gets. It’s probably why Rolling Stone ranks it as one of its Top 500 Greatest Songs of All time and why, in 2017, the International Observer ranked it as the greatest song ever made. Malcolm Gladwell did a podcast on the song. At last count the song has been covered over 300 times by various artists.

Buckley didn’t write the song. That honor goes to the brilliant Canadian poet and lyricist, Leonard Cohen. Cohen took over five years to complete the song, which he claimed had 180 drafts. The lyrics’ (and their meaning) have been debated for several decades. But even Cohen couldn’t explain them. The song is heavy with biblical references, even though Cohen said the song was not religious. It also has references to joy, love, sex, and despair. As one of the lines in the song states: “It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah.” 

This month’s economic indicators are a lot like that. We’re letting out one big hallelujah, as we continue to post record low unemployment rates (1.9%), over $818 million in monthly gross sales, increased passenger usage, and an increase in primary jobs. But we’re also in a bit of despair at the pressure of the price of housing, and by default, property taxes. When the median list price for all three of Rapid City’s major zip codes is above $310,000, even workers who earn the area’s median household income (about $59,100) struggle to find a home. And this is happening despite the furious pace of construction everywhere we turn. 

There are other warning signs flashing, whether it’s the latest banking crisis, an inverted yield curve, or the Federal Reserve Board’s insistence they can bring inflation to 2% through continued rate hikes. One hope continues to be the resilience of the Black Hills region compared to the national economy. Inflation is lower in the Rapid City region, office rents are significantly cheaper in the Rapid City region ($20.56/sq. ft.) than the national average ($38.38/sq. ft.), and even housing is still cheaper in Rapid City than the rest of the country. 

Don’t tell that to someone trying to find a house in the Black Hills right now. We hear numerous stories about housing each week. And rarely do they result in someone finding a house on the first try. It’s the cover song we’re tired of playing, frankly. And we’re hoping in the next quarter to see some new material because of infrastructure investments, state grant dollars, and the local housing development community catching up on supply chains.

Let’s call it an unbroken hallelujah.