Some reports on where the speculators are. "A flurry of high-end sales caused home prices in the Park Cities to jump 44 percent in the first quarter. Other areas of North Texas weren't so lucky in the first quarter. Sales declined in more than half of the neighborhoods surveyed in The Dallas Morning News report on pre-owned single-family homes."

"In the first quarter, 167 homes sold for $1 million or more in North Texas, an increase of 27 percent from the same period last year. With such booming demand for high-dollar mansions, real estate agents say they aren't surprised to see California-style price hikes in the Park Cities. 'We've seen some huge multimillion-dollar sales' there, said real estate agent Bettie Abio. 'There seems to be no end to the appreciation.'"

"(Broker) Robbie Briggs said the number of high-price speculative and custom homes being built in the Park Cities has also increased. At the end of March, there were 42,630 homes for sale in North Texas, virtually unchanged from a year ago."

"The number of new housing starts in the first quarter of 2006 spiked dramatically over the same period last year. In the quarter ended March 31, 2006, builders put down 4,579 new single-family home starts in the Austin area, a 48 percent increase over the same time last year. That brought the annual new home start rate to almost 17,000 homes, a 29 percent increase over the annual start rate a year ago and a new record for the Austin market."

"Eldon Rude says an influx of out-of-state families moving to Austin and a tight resale home supply have put an increased demand on the local new home market. 'Couple that dynamic with increasing interest from out-of-state investors looking to move their capital from slowing coastal markets, and what we see is strong competition for available land,' Rude says."

"Utah's strong population and employment growth is fueling a home-buying bonanza along the Wasatch Front, driving up home sales and selling prices. Homes are being bought days and sometimes hours after they hit the market. 'The good news is that we're seeing healthy increases in sales and prices but not unrealistic increases that could lead to a housing 'bubble' like they did in other states,' said Deborah Sjoblom of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors."

"Realtor Marilyn Briggs said buyers are making full-price or more than full-price offers only to see someone else get the home they want. Investors also are pushing sales and prices higher, Briggs said. Out-of-state investors are snapping up properties along the Wasatch Front, especially in the Salt Lake City area, either for rentals or to fix up and resell at a profit."

"'There are investors that are buying homes in the Salt Lake area sight unseen,' Briggs said. 'They are telling their Realtor to just go ahead and make an offer.'"