(MONEY Magazine) – Location, location, lo...well, you know the story. Over the next year, look for Portland, Ore. to provide the highest housing appreciation among the 50 biggest U.S. metropolitan areas: an average price rise of 5.6%. Other western cities such as Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Denver and Phoenix will fare well too, with average appreciation rates of 4% or more. In contrast, the East will be anything but Eden. Hartford, New York City, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. may see their home values increase less than 2.5%. Those are the projections of Regional Financial Associates (RFA), the West Chester, Pa. economic forecasting firm that conducted the analysis for MONEY.

If you're planning a move or just want to know how much more your home may be worth in the coming year, here's how to use our table:

% gain shows the projected price rise from the first quarter of 1996 through the first quarter of '97. Median prices reflect home sales in the first quarter of 1996. Median income uses household data from Claritas, a marketing and research firm in Alexandria, Va.

The affordability index is based on a formula that shows how easily a family earning the median income in a metro area could afford the median-priced house there. A score of 100 means the family should qualify for financing on the median-priced house, assuming an 8%, 30-year fixed mortgage and a 20% down payment. The higher the index number, the more affordable the area is; the lower the number, the less so. For example, New Haven's score of 110 means that buyers earning the median income of $41,999 should be able to qualify for a 10% larger mortgage than they would need to buy the median-priced home costing $136,100. By contrast, San Diego's score of 75 means a family with the median income might qualify only for 75% of the financing they would need to buy the median-priced home there. The most affordable place: Houston.

--Brian Clark