FORT COLLINS - A study by the Everitt Real Estate Center on the Colorado State University campus shows five of 11 Northern Colorado housing markets gained in value during 2007-08, even as a recession began to hit the area.

The study, which looked at home price changes in Larimer, Weld and Boulder counties, showed the Tri-Cities area of Dacono, Firestone and Frederick having the greatest average gain of the 11 market areas with a 2.1 percent increase in value during the period. Fort Collins-Timnath had the next highest increase at 1.5 percent followed by Boulder-Gunbarrel at 0.8 percent, Estes Park at 0.5 percent and Erie at 0.3 percent.

"Northern Colorado's housing market is actually in fairly good shape according to our analysis of housing prices," said John Gerhard, a research analyst with EREC. "Our real estate market in Northern Colorado is hyperlocal, meaning it can vary widely by neighborhood and even block by block."

Gerhard said the study belies the notion that the entire Northern Colorado housing market is "in the tank."

"Home values may be stable or increasing despite the seemingly widespread perception that the entire market is struggling," he said.

Gerhard and Sriram Villupuram, an assistant professor in CSU's Department of Finance and Real Estate, looked at IRES LLC, the area's Multiple Listing Service, and studied individual home sales from 1997 through 2008 in the three counties. The study breaks down the region by census tract to evaluate market areas almost on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis.

Over the 11-year study period, the Boulder-Gunbarrel market area had the highest overall appreciation at 89.1 percent. The Greeley-Evans market had the lowest appreciation -- 7.9 percent -- over the 11-year period.

Gerhard said study results will be released twice a year in March and August to track the housing market. He said he expects the study will be used extensively by local lenders and real estate professionals.

"We do have several companies that are looking at underwriting this report," he said. "Our goal is to help the real estate professionals in this area to get some independent, non-biased information they can rely on."