Boulder, FoCo home-price stability cited

Boulder has topped finance site SmartAsset’s annual list of the housing markets with the most stable growth, but this time Fort Collins and Denver joined it in the top 10.

SmartAsset defines “stable growth” as markets with both solid upward home-price growth and a low probability that homes would have declined in value by at least 5 percent within a decade after the home was purchased.

The site looked at the 358 housing markets in America from 1991 to the present, and noted that over that 25-year period, the Boulder metropolitan statistical area — basically meaning Boulder County — has had the most stable growth in the nation. The area recorded a 308 percent housing-price growth rate since 1991 and has suffered no significant price declines over the period, SmartAsset noted, and the area has the highest average home appreciation of any city in the study.

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Fort Collins rose to sixth on the list this year. According to 2014 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, about 311,435 people live in the Fort Collins metropolitan statistical area — which encompasses Larimer County. SmartAsset’s report noted that “employees there work in several different industries, including manufacturing, and its tech industry seems to be growing thanks in part to opportunities provided by Colorado State University.” SmartAsset said the Fort Collins area has seen 246 percent home-price growth since 1991 and has only a 5 percent chance of seeing a decline in home prices.

Denver moved up to ninth on the list, with 217 percent growth in home prices over the past 25 years. “As you weigh the pros and cons of purchasing a home in the area, it’s important to take multiple factors into account,” the study said. “While there has been a 270 percent total growth rate since 1991, the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood housing market … has seen home prices drop significantly at times during that period.” SmartAsset assigned the Denver area a 17 percent chance of seeing home-price declines.

The area around Austin and Round Rock, Texas, came in second on the list, followed by Casper, Wyo.; Bismarck, N.D.; and Midland, Texas.