Real Estate 2010

While the job market in Gainesville has weakened, the unemployment rate was still, at 7.9%, much lower than the national average. The college town has been able to retain many of its former University of Florida students.

But like most Sunshine State cities, Gainesville home prices rang up some outsized gains during the bubble and the city is now giving most of those increases back. Already, prices are down nearly 23% from their early 2007 peak and another 13.4% decline is predicted this year.