Dec. 7--DECATUR -- When Mark Miller wanted to cook up a fresh future for himself, he moved to Decatur.

The new executive chef at the Country Club of Decatur liked the slower pace of life in Central Illinois and found competitive Decatur house prices very much to his tastes. Miller and his wife, Michelle, closed in November on a city address they described as "perfect".

The chef was happy to leave behind his former home in the Missouri town of Oakville, 15 minutes outside St. Louis. He said he was being ruined by rampant development and a frenetic pace of life. "I like the homeliness and friendliness of the Decatur area," said Miller, 47.

"It's very attractive to me, and, well, it's back to simplicity, I suppose."

The Millers are far from alone in wanting to live here. And if they stick around, they will find their housing investment is likely to offer sweet rewards in the long run: A survey by the National Association of Realtors has just named Decatur the second-strongest real estate market in the nation -- No. 1 was Elmira, N.Y. -- with median third-quarter price growth of 8.7 percent compared to this time last year.

That means the median -half of all prices were above this figure, half below -- Decatur housing price of $72,000 in October 2007 jumped to $80,900 in October 2008. And while the effects of the recession have certainly touched Decatur -- for the first 10 months of this year, Realtor-led home sales dipped 15.5 percent -- the growth in the value of properties being sold bucks a strong national trend in the other direction.

A recent nationwide survey found that average housing prices across the country have been plummeting at an annualized depreciation rate of close to 11 percent for eight months straight.

In some states that were epicenters of the speculative housing bubble, the drop in values has been a death plunge: In the past 12 months, California's housing prices have collapsed by a staggering 30 percent. Nevada saw its prices drop 25 percent, Arizona 21 percent and Florida 17.54 percent. The overall price drop in Illinois came in at 6.93 percent.

Figures from the Decatur Association of Realtors for homes sold up until October show an average sales price of $108,697, but that still makes the city one of the most affordable places to buy a home in America. When CNNMoney.com surveyed housing prices in the cities it judged the best places to live, the average price came back at $293,712, still almost three times what a comparable home would cost in the Decatur area.