NEW YORK – It’s probably a safe bet that with housing growth comes retail growth, and a new report out this week points to Denver, San Antonio, Nashville, Fort Lauderdale and Dallas as some of the nation’s hottest housing markets.

The report by online real estate marketplace Auction.com compiled data from the site’s massive sales database as well as other information sources to arrive at a ranking of the nation’s hottest housing markets based on sales price appreciation and transaction volume. Historically, a healthy housing market has had an extremely positive effect on retail markets in the surrounding areas.

“As the U.S. housing market has continued to recover from the Great Recession, we’ve seen significant regional variances in terms of both price appreciation and sales volume,” said Auction.com executive vice president Rick Sharga, in a press release. “Earlier in the recovery, most of the growth came from markets that had suffered the biggest declines during the housing bust, but what we’re seeing today is more in line with fundamental economic trends: markets with the best job growth and population growth are recovering most quickly.”

According to the report, the Southwest remains the strongest U.S. region overall, with robust local economies and strong population growth continuing to drive housing demand. The Southeast and West also show promise, as even previously hard hit housing markets in these regions are improving rapidly.