The national housing sector has benefited significantly from low long-term interest rates in recent years. The Fed’s hikes in short-term rates after mid-2004 did little to dampen housing demand. There has been talk of a housing bubble in many areas of the country as home prices have risen considerably compared to historical levels. Prices have also risen much faster than rental rates, analogous to having a high price-earnings ratio for houses. Average national home prices have not dropped since the Great Depression but the recent frenzy in the real estate market has investors wondering if the market can maintain this pace. Housing prices have risen and popped in past years. Texas collapsed in 1986, Southern California in 1989, and Massachusetts and Connecticut in 1991. But the debate continues over whether a nationwide bubble has materialized.