Memphis among least risky for home owners

Memphis is one of the top five least risky areas to own a home, according to the PMI U.S. Market Risk Index.

PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. released its data Tuesday, showing Memphis as the second least risky market in the nation's 50 largest housing markets, following only Pittsburgh. Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Nashville round out the top five.

Memphis scored 57, or a 5.7 percent chance of housing price decline, on the index, compared San Diego, the nation's highest risk market, which scored a 588, or a 58.8 percent chance of price declines.

The national average index score is 261.

PMI Mortgage, a subsidiary of The PMI Group Inc. (NYSE: PMI), publishes the market risk index quarterly. The index measures geographic house-price risk by predicting the probability of a regional decline in home prices over the next two years.

The index is based on the House Price Index from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, labor market statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the PMI affordability index, which uses local median household income, home price appreciation and the price of a conventional mortgage.