Housing prices are up in counties in West Virginia where the population is down since the pandemic and still continuing down.
Land prices are up in the absolute middle of nowhere Ocotillo Wells desert where it's unimaginably hot much of the year and the only reason anyone has heard of it is dirtbiking.
In short, it's up everywhere. Some places more extreme (Phoenix, Boise, Nashville, Austin) than other places.
Ocotillo Wells may be a bad example, because it is adjacent to the Salton Sea. There is an ongoing conversation about building the world's largest lithium extraction plant at the Salton Sea, which would massively increase development in tbe surrounding area, and permanently raise land values in Ocotillo Wells (among other towns).
I'm not saying you're wrong, just that OW may be a bad example because there is a separate local phenomenon going on.
Prices are set by the relatively small number of houses that are traded at any one time. This can be either demand or supply driven.
Realistically, what’s causing this increase is the large amount of cheap money floating around in the economy at the moment. Something that should change in the near further assuming the Fed stays it’s course in tightening the money supply this year.
The other factor at play that should be noted is the shift to WFH, the vast majority of the US population lives within major metro areas, even a small shift to rural areas creates huge spikes in demand. Housing isn’t something that can be scaled up in a small town quickly.
Land prices are up in the absolute middle of nowhere Ocotillo Wells desert where it's unimaginably hot much of the year and the only reason anyone has heard of it is dirtbiking.
In short, it's up everywhere. Some places more extreme (Phoenix, Boise, Nashville, Austin) than other places.