Texas markets are most set to benefit. Housing values were rising in many Lone Star State towns until oil futures collapsed and agricultural commodity prices fell. But the bottom doesn't look very deep. Moody's forecasts no change for McAllen and a fall of less than 3% for Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso, San Antonio and Houston.

"Texas has the best large-state economy in the country right now," says Zandi. "Employment is slowing, but its still growing."

It's a similar story in Tulsa, Okla., where housing prices look like they will dip 1% this year after steady recent appreciation. With the price of crude falling, that's no surprise in this city built on oil. What's more surprising is how little values rose over the last decade; the average house in Tulsa changes hands for around $131,000, according to Trulia.com, compared to $100,000 in 2004.

New Orleans is another market that was relatively robust until the national downturn cast a shadow on local prices. Money poured into the Big Easy after Katrina destroyed the city and a long, slow renaissance began. Housing prices popped 13.7% in the third quarter of last year compared to a year earlier, according to Zillow.com, $135,000 on average. Moody's is forecasting a fall of 2% this year.

And just like Little Rock, housing markets in upstate New York never had the ups and downs of some hot markets in the rest of the country. In Rochester, the birthplace of industrial ancients Xerox and Eastman Kodak, real estate values have climbed at a steady 3% rate for the last five years. They don't have far to fall--about 2.4% according to Moody's forecasts. In Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany, prices should also remain steady this year.

It's a similar story for the old industrial town of Pittsburgh, Pa. The city built on steel had its crisis two decades ago. Now, it's one of America's cleanest cities. Carnegie Mellon University attracts some of the best and brightest students, and some of the old steel mills are being converted to research parks. Pittsburgh is grayer than most cities: 16% of the population is over 65, well above the national average of 12%. Retirees, living on social security and pensions, are less affected by job losses.

Housing prices ended the third quarter at a median $122,000, about where they have been for the last three years, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. Moody's forecasts more of the same for this year.

With so many markets in sunnier places crashing and burning, being dull has its advantages.