Hampton Roads economy is in the top 20 of nation's 100 largest metro areas, according to a recent article in The Virginian Pilot.

The recession has spared almost no region of the country, but lower-than-average job losses have helped Hampton Roads fare better than most of the nation's major metropolitan areas, which could be due to the concentration of defense and government activity.

Homeowners in the area have seen a decrease in housing prices and an increase in foreclosures, but those statistics have also been better than the average of other metro areas around the country.

"Jobs in the region in the second quarter of 2009 slipped by 2.1 percent from the peak in 2007. That compared with an average decline of 3.8 percent in the 100 largest metro areas.

Hampton Roads' unemployment rate of 7.4 percent during the quarter remained well below the 9.7 percent average for the 100 areas, according to the Brookings Institution report. The output of Hampton Roads' goods and services has slipped only 0.8 percent from the peak during last year's third quarter. The average decline was 3.7 percent for the 100 areas.

Housing prices were down 2.1 percent from one year ago, according to the Brookings report. That put the region on the bottom half for the 100 metro areas, where the average decline was 4.4 percent. 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."

Read full story, including a link to the full report.