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Top 10 cities where house prices are rising

6. Palm Bay-Melbourne–Titusville, Fla.: up 8.3 percent

Joe Skipper/Reuters
Spectators watch as the space shuttle Atlantis lifts off at Kennedy Space Center. The Palm Bay metro area, where the Kennedy Space Center is located, has seen home prices rise 8.3 percent despite having a 11.1 percent unemployment rate.

  • By Meredith Bennett-Smith Contributor

Florida was one of the states hit hardest by the housing market collapse and now it’s showing some of the strongest recovery signs. In the Palm Bay metro area, the median single-family home sold for $95,200 a year ago and now stands at $103,100.  Home to some 543,000 people along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and near some of Florida’s most iconic tourist destinations, including the Kennedy Space Center, the area still struggles with a high 11.1 percent unemployment rate, the 13th highest among large metro areas, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors and its foreclosure rate remains far above the national average.

Still, it has seen an uptick in jobs in the trade, transportation and utilities, and the education and health service sectors. And buyers keep coming, especially speculators from out of town, looking to get a deal on foreclosed properties. Even with the uptick, home prices are still nearly half what they were at their peak in 2006, according to the FHFA.

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Mark Sappenfield
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