Heavy industry has dominated York's economy -- including turbine manufacturing, weight-training equipment and a Harley Davidson factory -- but there has also been room for lighter fare. York Peppermint Pattie, anyone?
Population growth, at 12.4% during the 2000s, was unusually robust for a mature Rust-Belt city, but not hot enough to send home prices out of control. Most houses within the town of York sell for less than six figures, according to Zillow. Even in the best suburbs, a recent-vintage, four-bed, three-bath home usually costs less than a quarter million.
With homes that affordable and job losses fairly moderate during the recession -- still only 8.2% and pretty flat over the past 12 months -- it's something of a surprise that the foreclosure problem has been as severe in York.According to Austin Jaffe, a director at the Institute for Real Estate Studies at Penn State, the rise is a manifestation of the area's slow economy and a lag that Pennsylvania often exhibits in following national trends. He foresees little improvement in foreclosures until late in 2011.
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