Denver housing market gets Forbes' endorsement

"How much you want for it?"

Denver's housing market may not seem in great shape right now, but according to Forbes magazine, it's well positioned to improve soon and stay robust in the future. Indeed, "Best Cities To Buy A Home," penned by Sarah Lynch, puts Denver atop a roster of cities with positive housing outlooks, ahead of Los Angeles, Boston, Phoenix and San Diego.

Here's the section about Denver:

Denver tops the list. It had 25% of its property sales occur within approximately 25% of the city's ZIP codes. This means sales in various parts of the city were fairly evenly distributed, showing proportionate activity. The further a city deviates from the 25% mark, the less evenly distributed the market is in that city, and thus the lower that city ranks.

"Denver scores very well in terms of being able to bring people into a stable housing market," says Christopher Cornell, an economist at Moody's Economy.com says. "It has better growth potential than most cities today."

Cornell attributes Denver's stability to its main industries -- energy and technology -- that he says aren't likely to decline simultaneously. He also says its housing market didn't grow as much as in other parts of the country over the last five years. "Little boom, little bust," he says.

You read right: Denver's in better shape than many cities because, lately, housing hasn't been as strong here compared to many other places. In this economy, apparently, down is the new up.