Along with our take on what’s in and what’s out for housing in 2013, I’ve got my eye on 10 “healthy” housing markets with solid fundamentals. The healthy markets that made the list have strong job growth (Bureau of Labor Statistics), which bodes well for housing demand; low vacancy rates (U.S. Postal Service)–low enough to encourage new construction, but not so low that inventory and sales are restrained; and low foreclosure inventory (RealtyTrac), since foreclosures tend to hold back recovery.
But why, you might ask, aren’t rising prices included as part of our definition of healthy local housing markets? Because many of the markets with the largest price gains in 2012 were rebounding from huge price declines during the bust, but they still have weak fundamentals, such as high vacancy rates, large foreclosure inventories, or slow job growth. For instance, Las Vegas and Phoenixboth have high vacancy rates and large foreclosure inventories going into 2013, despite having year-over-year asking-price increases of 14% and 27%, respectively, according to the November Trulia Price Monitor. And Detroit has a sky-high vacancy rate and is suffering job losses, even though asking prices in Detroit rose 10% year-over-year. Just as losing lots of weight might be part of an unhealthy cycle of yo-yo dieting, big price gains aren’t necessarily a sign of a healthy housing market if they’re being driven by a post-crash rebound, rather than solid fundamentals. That’s why Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Detroit aren’t on the healthiest-markets list for 2013.
The envelope, please:
The 10 Healthiest Metros for Housing in 2013 
1
Houston, TX
2
San Francisco, CA
3
Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick, MD
4
San Antonio, TX
5
Austin, TX
6
Seattle, WA
7
Omaha, NE-IA
8
Peabody, MA ***
9
Fort Worth, TX
10
Louisville, KY-IN
Among the 100 largest metros.
Article Courtesy of Jed Kolko, Chief Economist Trulia