According to the Brookings Institute’s MetroMonitor, a quarterly barometer of the health of America’s 100 largest metropolitan economies, Hampton Roads ranks in the top 20.  The MetroMonitor report examines trends in metropolitan-level employment, output, and housing conditions to look “beneath the hood” of national economic statistics to portray the diverse metropolitan trajectories of recession and recovery across the country.

Here’s how we rate:

Employment – No. 16
Jobs in the region in the second quarter of 2009 slipped by 2.1% from the peak in 2007. That compared with an average decline of 3.8% in the 100 largest metro areas.

Unemployment – No. 17
Hampton Roads’ unemployment rate of 7.4% during the quarter remained well below the 9.7% average for the 100 areas.  

Gross metropolitan product – No. 6
The output of Hampton Roads’ goods and services has slipped only 0.8% from the peak during last year’s third quarter. The average decline was 3.7% for the 100 areas.

Housing prices – No. 57
Housing prices were down 2.1% from one year ago. That put the region on the bottom half for the 100 metro areas, where the average decline was 4.4%.

Home ownership – No. 56
A rising number of foreclosures also put a damper on regional economic recovery. Hampton Roads saw 2.43 real estate owned properties per 1,000 mortgageable properties, while the average among metropolitan areas was 4.20.

A handful of the nation’s 20 strongest regions, including Hampton Roads, San Antonio and Washington, benefited from having a significant concentration of defense or government activity, noted Alan Berube, research director for Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program and co-author of the study. “I’d rate that as among the most important factors” for the strength of Hampton Roads’ economy, he said.

excerpts from a September 15th  article by Tom Shean of The Virginian-Pilot

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