Housing Bubble (sales, houses, incomes)

[user123455]

As most people know there was a housing bubble in many places around the country. The basic definition of a bubble was that housing prices rose much faster then incomes and inflation. Of course every area is different, so in some areas there was a huge bubble while in other there might have been no bubble at all, because in each area there are many local factors affecting the housing market such as job growth or changes in demographic trends.

Generally speaking, it's well known that the worst housing bubbles occurred in the so called "bubble states" such as California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona where prices doubled in some cases within a few years. But there were smaller bubbles in many other areas, and these are also deflating right now.

My question is if you think there was or still is a bubble in the Nashville area and how big it was ? I was looking at sales prices for various properties in Williamson county and in many cases I encountered properties that appreciated by almost 50% in 5-6 years (mostly before 2008), or almost 10% per year which seems very high. More recently prices have been moderating, but I'm not sure if the bubble has completely deflated or not.

[rossc]

I looked at houses here 3 years ago then moved and bought something last year. I found prices to be a little less in the Nashville area and about the same on the outskirts. I think the bubble here is restricted to the high end homes ($250k+). Homes in the $150k range seem to have held their own. I think that's because this is the price range most people are shopping and there are lots of people moving here.