Risk Index 2008

As a real estate investor, are you risk-averse? Or do you actively look for markets where foreclosures are rampant, bank-owned houses represent a significant part of the local inventory, and all the signs point to more trouble ahead?

For those of you who are risk averse: Think Texas! Five of the top ten safest markets in the U.S., according to the index, are in the Lone Star state. They have less than a one percent chance of property devaluations, and the list includes: Fort Worth, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and Austin.

Now that's not to suggest that you can just go out and buy any piece of property willy-nilly in these markets and not lose money. Rather, the index estimates the likelihood of overall, metropolitan-wide valuation declines.

Other large, low-risk real estate markets, according to PMI, are Charlotte, North Carolina, Kansas City, Missouri, and Pittsburgh, PA.