Fort Worth housing market among nation's top 10

Fort Worth is one of four Texas markets that are among the nation's "healthiest" housing markets, according to Jed Kolko, chief economist for real estate information site Trulia. By healthiest, Kolko explains, he doesn't just mean that home prices are rising -- "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," he says. Here are his fundamentals: strong job growth (supporting housing demand); low vacancy rates; and low foreclosure inventory.

Those are his markers, and here are his picks: 1. Houston; 2. San Francisco; 3. Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick, Md.; 4. San Antonio; 5. Austin; 6. Seattle; 7. Omaha; 8. Peabody, Mass. (Boston suburban); 9. Fort Worth; 10. Louisville.

Some of the markets that didn't make his list and the reasons why, are:  "Las Vegas and Phoenix -- both have high vacancy rates and large foreclosure inventories going into 2013, despite having year-over-year asking-price increases of 14 percent  and 27 percent, 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 percent year-over-year." Trulia says asking prices in the Fort Worth market were up 5.3 percent from a year ago and rents were up 7 percent

-- Jim Fuquay