There is always going to be high demand for houses that are close to the large job centers. How strong that demand is will be partly influenced by the economy.

The housing boom we saw in the mid 2000s was a bit of a fluke due to asset inflation that arose from the Feds ZIRP. One could argue that the current asset appreciation we are seeing from 2011 to present is another unintended consequence of the ZIRP.