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For the second straight quarter, Fayetteville's housing market has ranked No. 1 in the nation for appreciating home values, according to a real estate Web site.

Amy Bohutinsky, vice president of communications for Zillow.com, said Fayetteville is one of the few markets with nothing but good news in the report.

"It's certainly the brightest news for any market in the U.S.," she said.

Zillow, which analyzes home values based on its own formula, says Fayetteville's median home value has jumped 13.4 percent since the second quarter of 2008.

That's well above the other markets in the top five for growth. They all showed appreciation of 4.2 percent to 4.8 percent.

Jay Dowdy, president of the Fayetteville Regional Association of Realtors, said the news is good for the community.

"Praise God," he said when contacted Tuesday afternoon. "We're in a very, very lucky situation."

Dowdy is hopeful the ranking will spur more confidence in the community while attracting buyers.

He attributed the healthy market to slow but steady growth over the years and said he thinks the city can maintain the growth.

Zillow's estimates cover all homes, not just those that sell. Sales volume has been down since last fall in the Fayetteville market, according to Multiple Listing Service figures from the local Realtor association.

Sales of existing homes in June were down 24 percent compared to June 2008, though closings on new homes had rebounded to year-ago levels. Average prices of homes that sold this summer have remained lower than last year.

Zillow's Bohutinsky said Fayetteville never had the large growth spurts that many other markets saw in the years leading up to the housing crash.

She said that may have helped the market because there hasn't been the instability created when the housing bubble burst in other cities.

Bohutinsky said Fort Bragg likely has a lot to do with the area's rising home values.

"The markets that are performing 'well' . tend to be the ones where the major employers are recession-proof," she said.

Bohutinsky said "well" is a relative term in this economy but that Fayetteville's numbers would be good even during a pre-recession year.

Recession-proof employers, she said, include the military, university and government offices - "sectors that always need jobs and always bring in people."

Nationally, home values have fallen 12.1 percent over the past year, Zillow reports.

In Fayetteville, the median value was $120,600, according to the company, Bohutinsky said.

"It's an attractive place to buy," she said.

The median value in the U.S. is $186,500, Zillow says.

In the wake of the Zillow report, Fayetteville was featured on Forbes.com and ABC News' "Good Morning America."

The "Good Morning America" spot featured the city among a list of top five places to sell a home.

Other bright spots in the report for Fayetteville include the number of sales of foreclosed properties and estimates of negative equity.

Nearly 12 percent of Fayetteville sales in June were foreclosed properties, and 16.2 percent of single-family mortgages had negative equity. By comparison, 22 percent of all U.S. sales were foreclosures, and 23 percent of U.S. mortgages had negative equity, Zillow reports.

Among the best-performing ZIP codes in Cumberland County was 28306, with 28.4 percent appreciation year-over-year to a median value of $137,600 in June. Also, properties in 28312 appreciated 22.7 percent to a median June value of $130,100. Two ZIP codes that include Haymount, the downtown area and several wealthier neighborhoods showed significant growth, too: The median value in 28301 was $96,700, up 17.7percent, and it was $162,300 in 28305, up 11.8 percent.

Rounding out the top five U.S. markets for home appreciation were: Oklahoma City; Binghamton, N.Y.; Burlington, N.C.; and Gainesville, Ga.

The worst-performing markets were in California and Las Vegas, where values have plunged 31 percent to 40 percent over the past year.

The median home value in Las Vegas was $140,500 in the second quarter, with 67 percent of June sales being foreclosures, according to Zillow.

The company says its value estimates include all single-family homes and condominiums regardless if they sold during a particular period. It uses data from public sources for 161 metropolitan statistical areas.