By Lauren Baier Kim

The recent softening in the U.S. real-estate market after years of double-digit percentage growth in home prices may make it scarier than ever to buy a vacation home.

Some regions are scary because, even with the recent dip, they seem prohibitively expensive. Elsewhere, buyers may have understandable fears that places that seem affordable will only become more so as prices continue to fall.

The editors at RealEstateJournal.com set out to identify potential vacation-home deals that would assuage the most nervous Nellies. We looked for appealing locales across the U.S. where prices rose at a rate well below the national average of 84.3% between the second quarter of 1996 and the second quarter of 2006, and have above-average employment outlooks according to data from Economy.com.

After working with Mike Sklarz, head of global research at New City Corp., a real-estate merchant banking and investment management firm based in Tokyo, to crunch the numbers, RealEstateJournal then investigated the areas further, looking at things like the availability and selection of vacation residences, and proximity to recreational and cultural offerings.

Here’s our list of 12 tempting locales:

• Bath/Beaufort County, N.C.
• Blairsville, Ga.
• Clarksville, Va.
• Cloudcroft, N.M.
• Dadeville, Ala.
• Driggs, Idaho
• Eureka Springs, Ark.
• Heber City, Utah
• Helen, Ga.
• Jemez Springs, N.M.
• South Padre Island, Texas
• Steamboat Springs, Colo.

See snapshots of these areas, including details like vacation-home prices, local attractions, the rental market, data on past housing prices and projected employment growth.

Read how RealEstateJournal and Mr. Sklarz came up with the list in the methodology.

Also this week, June Fletcher will take a look at what community and home factors to consider when making a vacation-home purchase, Jane Hodges will share three money-saving ways to get into a vacation property, Lauren Baier Kim will look at high-altitude mountain retreats and Sheree Curry will profile a couple who sold their Vermont ski and summer retreat at the full asking price.

– Dana Mattioli contributed to this article.

Email your comments to lauren.kim@wsj.com

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