With the holiday season now upon us, a national business forecasting organization says Lancaster Countians really do have something to be thankful for.

In an article this month on Kiplinger.com, the county was named one of six real estate "safe havens" across the country, places that stand out because of their stable home values, comparatively low foreclosure rates, and housing affordability.

Local business and real estate leaders say the report reinforces what they already know: that Lancaster County's varied economy continues to be a major strong point, and the conservative lending practices of its banks and mortgage companies have kept foreclosures well below the national average.

A real estate oasis
In its analysis, Kiplinger.com relied on data from Fiserv Lending Solutions, a home-price research company.

It found the median price of a Lancaster County house is $206,000, and that home values here climbed 1.6 percent over the past year.

Describing why this area is a safe haven, Kiplinger wrote: "Known as an Amish cultural hub, [Lancaster County] is also home to a diverse group of industries, including printing and food processing. This helps keep the local market stable and unemployment low, as losses in one sector aren't devastating to the overall economy."

The article also cited the county's conservative lending market.

The other five safe havens are Clarksville, Tenn.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Burlington, Vt.; Pittsburgh; and Johnson City, Tenn.

Kiplinger said the country's worst real estate markets are in central California, where housing values are plummeting.

"It's certainly great news for Lancaster," Tom Baldrige, president of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said of the report.

Kiplinger's findings are consistent with Forbes magazine naming the Lancaster metro area one of the top 10 places to ride out the recession, he said.

"I'd like to think it's another example of how Lancaster is doing things right," Baldrige said.

"Our economy is traditionally a little bit more stable," agreed Jeff Funk, president of the Lancaster County Association of Realtors. "No big employers are leaving."

Funk, of Charles & Associates Real Estate Inc., warned that "some people are going to read that article and disagree with it" because home sales are still slow.

"But we're holding our own," he said, particularly in the sub-$250,000 market.

Frank Christoffel III, executive vice president of the county Realtors' association, said the local market offers a good inventory of homes, low mortgage rates, "and an investment that's going to be stable, if not appreciate, year after year."

While foreclosure notices are up 28 percent in Lancaster County over last year, the national figure is 71 percent.

"What you find is that the vast majority of mortgages that were made were made intelligently and people are paying on them," Christoffel said.

The Kiplinger report suggests that "while things are challenging, we are certainly far better off than other parts of the nation," Baldrige said.

"It's easy to get caught up in the national news of the day," he said, "where every time you turn around it's foreclosures and layoffs and all sorts of economic devastation."

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E-mail: pwolf@lnpnews.com; pfranz@lnpnews.com