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Nicholasville has one of the healthiest housing markets in Kentucky, according to a study by SmartAsset, a technology company that does online research to provide advice on personal finances.

Nicholasville ranked sixth overall based on four factors weighed by the study: stability, risk, the ease of selling a home and home costs as a percentage of local median income.

The places that scored the best across these indices were deemed the healthiest housing markets in Kentucky.

Sources the study relied on included the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2018 5-Year American Community Survey and Zillow.

Stability was measured with two equally weighted indicators: the number of years of people remain in their homes and the percentage of homeowners with negative equity.

To measure risk, the study used the percentage of homes that decreased in value.

To determine housing market fluidity, the research looked at the average time a for-sale home in each area spent on the market (the longer homes take to sell, the less fluid the market).

Finally, the study calculated affordability by determining the monthly cost of owning a home as a percentage of household income in each city.

Affordability accounted for 40 percent of SmartAsset’s Healthiest Housing Markets Index, while each of the other three factors accounted for 20 percent.

When data on the four factors was unavailable for certain cities, those cities were excluded from the final rankings.

The study showed that for Nicholasville:

— the average number of years residents lived in a home was 17.1;

— 6.3 percent of homes had negative equity;

— 11.8 percent of homes were decreasing in value;

— the average number of days on the housing market was 93;

— and home costs as a percentage of income was 19.9 percent.

These factors gave Nicholasville a health market index of 76.50.

More information on the study, including the list of other Kentucky cities ranked in the top 10, and how they scored on the indices and an interactive map that allows readers to check on data pertaining to most Kentucky counties, can be found at https://smartasset.com/mortgage/mortgage-calculator#kentucky.