Report points to five pockets of housing strength

Areport on SmartMoney.com pointed to five metro areas that are on the mend in terms of real estate. The report was based on Moody's forecasts for home prices and data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The metro areas with relatively bright prospects in 2010 were identified as: Kennewick, Wash.; Fairbanks, Alaska; Anchorage, Alaska; Charleston, S.C.; and Corvallis, Ore.