Florida's housing market is improving -- perhaps not as quickly as property-holders might wish, but improving nonetheless.

David Lockhart, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, recently attributed the modest upswing to an infusion of foreign capital.

"The economy in South Florida has seen a resurgence in foreign spending, primarily on real estate and tourism,” he said. "Our contacts in the real estate sector have noted for some time that international investors, mainly from Canada, Europe and South America, have been active buyers of this area's distressed residential real estate assets."

But there's still a long way to go, as indicated by the latest housing data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The seven major metropolitan areas with the worst vacancy rates as of 2010 (the most recent figures available) were all in Florida, led by Cape Coral-Fort Myers at 37.0 percent. That means roughly two of every five houses, condominiums and apartments in that area were vacant just two years ago.

The next six markets in the vacancy rankings were Bradenton-Sarasota (27.9 percent), Lakeland (21.4 percent), Orlando (20.7 percent), Miami-Fort Lauderdale (19.5 percent), Palm Bay-Melbourne (17.8 percent) and Tampa-St. Petersburg (17.6 percent).

The highest vacancy rates occurred in states that depend heavily on tourism and seasonal housing, such as Florida, Nevada and Arizona.

The most stable markets were in the East, Midwest and coastal California, led by Lancaster, Pa., at 4.5 percent.

The collective vacancy rate for all 100 markets was 10.9 percent.

Link to chart:

http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/on-numbers/scott-thomas/2012/06/florida-real-estate-bounces-back-from.html?appSession=28896600510880&RecordID=&PageID=2&PrevPageID=&cpipage=4&CPISortType=&CPIorderBy=