Fast-growing tech sector fuels housing boom in many US cities

Washington

CONSTRUCTION cranes dot much of downtown Nashville these days as the Tennessee capital remains in the grip of a sustained building boom.

More than 8,900 apartments are under construction in the Music City, double the number in 2012, as developers rush to catch up with rising demand in a city where home prices have increased 49 per cent over the past four years, according to the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors.

Yet unlike years past when the music and medical industries drove the real estate market here, this time an expanding technology sector is pushing home prices higher.

"We've had mini-real-estate booms over the years, but this one is different," says Michelle Maldonado, a broker with the Lipman Group Sotheby's International Realty in Nashville. "The tech sec…