Regulators Discount Housing Bubble Fears

By: Kevin G. Hall: REALTOR® Magazine Online
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. officials say they're not too concerned about a housing bubble, because job growth is happening in tandem with the biggest home price gains.

The FDIC is scheduled to release a report today that suggests that the housing markets where prices continue to rise also have added a lot of jobs.

Barbara Ryan, associated director of the FDIC's research division, notes that home prices rose 31.22 percent in Nevada during the first quarter from a year ago. Ryan adds that the state's job growth was 6.7 percent, well above the 1.6 percent year-over-year national average.

FDIC chief economist Richard Brown explains that booms are not always followed by busts, as the agency only found nine instances among the top 55 metropolitan areas from 1978 to 2004.