I agree that there is something more beyond the cheap money, however it is possible that the cheap money, combined with a few bad actors has driven up the price

I agree that there is something more beyond the cheap money, however it is possible that the cheap money, combined with a few bad actors has driven up the prices. Say one or two houses sell way over market value, that drives up the price of all the houses in the neighbourhood. If that happens a few times you have massive price increases fueled by easy access to money.