In some parts of the United States, notably Los Angeles and Miami, price increases accelerated in the early 2000s, and more than doubled from 2001 to 2006. Unfortunately, there were no corresponding (new-contract) rent data, comparable to that shown before for Japan, with which to gauge excessive investor optimism by calculating price-to-rent ratios.
However, since there was no report showing substantial rent increases relative to CPI in these areas, it might be appropriate to assume that the real price change coincided with the change in the price-to-rent ratio.