Market Analysis Basics -- How do I analyze an entire market?

[Stefan Hasselblad]

What is the best way for an amateur investor to learn how to conduct a broad market analysis? I don't mean just analyzing whether a particular house is a deal, but whether a particular area (say, Anne Arundel County or South Baltimore) has a stable economic base, has been appreciating/depreciating in recent years, has steadily improving schools, etc?

What are the best books/articles to learn how to do this?

What are the best websites to get the data? (e.g. city-data.com)

Are there any general rules of thumb or particular variables I should look at? (I've heard that more coffee shops or a growing LGBT population are often correlated with future appreciation)

Anything else I should be thinking of?

[Caveat: I understand that market analysis cannot replace first-hand, block-by-block knowledge of an area and that speculating on appreciation is silly -- I just think a market analysis is an interesting data point]