The number of areas across the U.S. 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 percent 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.
Boom areas were defined as having inflation-adjusted prices at the end of 2004 that were up 30 percent or more in three years.
