55 housing boom towns

[55 housing boom towns]

55 housing boom towns

A government study finds there are more white-hot real-estate markets than ever and says that easy credit could make any busts worse.

The number of areas across the United States with real estate booms grew nearly two-thirds last year to 55, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said, warning that these booms may be followed by busts.

The boom areas represent 15% of the 362 metropolitan areas the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight analyzes, the highest proportion of boom markets in 30 years of price data and more than twice the peak of the late-1980s booms. California had 21 of the 55 boom markets in 2004; Florida had 11 and the Northeast had 18.

Boom areas were defined as having inflation-adjusted prices at the end of 2004 that were up 30% or more in three years.

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