12 top housing markets for home price growth and stability

Buying a home is seen as the most substantial investment most people make in their lifetime. So, whether it's a first-time home purchase or property to turn a profit on, knowing what locations consistently provide price growth and low risk can pay dividends.

While high appreciation hurts those looking for affordability, it casts a safety net of future returns for buyers and diminishes housing bubble dangers. Since 2015, SmartAsset analyzed where in the country has the most sustainable growth, finding the same clusters keep rising to the top.

"We have performed our study on the best housing markets for growth and stability for the past five years now, and Colorado metro areas have consistently performed well," Ross Urken, a Senior Editor at SmartAsset, said in a statement. "Boulder, Denver and Fort Collins have cracked the top 10 housing markets with the most stable growth for the past four years and Boulder has claimed the number-one spot in our rankings every year. In Boulder, homeowners have consistently experienced no chance of suffering a significant price decline in the decade following their home purchase."

From Big Sky Country to the peaks of Colorado, here's a look at the 12 metro areas offering owners the most stability and appreciation in home prices over the past 25 years.

The analysis, based on Federal Housing Administration data, evaluates 358 housing markets from 1994 through 2018. Each market was given a score on a 100-point scale in both stability — the probability homeowners experienced a price decline of 5% or more at any point in the 10 years after purchasing a home — and overall price growth in the time period. The scores were then averaged to create the index value, giving a rank to each metro area.

Growth and stability index: 73.71
Odds of 5% loss in home price within 10 years of purchase: 0%
Home price growth 1994-2018: 164%