Even when the rest of the market is slipping, there is one way to find a property that's almost sure to hold its value: Head to the water.

Waterfront property appreciates faster in good times and declines in value at a slower rate in bad times, says Alan Hummel, past president of the Appraisal Institute and chief appraiser of Forsythe Appraisals.

What about the increased risk of storms and flooding on the coasts? That will not keep the market down, experts say. Robert Hartwig, president and chief economist with the Insurance Information Institute, told a U.S. Senate committee on last week that the value of insured coastal property will double within the next decade. Hartwig cited a growing number of people who want to live in coastal areas, including in hurricane belts.

The greatest resistance to price declines in a slowing housing market is in areas with limited supply of homes and where buyers are users, not simply investors, says real estate adviser Lewis Goodkin, president of Goodkin Consulting.

He cites such places as Palm Beach, Fla., Fisher Island in the city of Miami Beach and the Southern California coastal locales of Santa Monica, Newport Beach, and Laguna Beach as being the most desirable and the most-insulated from falling prices.

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