I was also in Boise last July. The town is huge compared to what it was just 15 years ago. All the prices for the nice newer homes, like suburbs of Eagle, which is just west of Boise are running at half a million and up.
I honestly don't know how those jobs there are supporting that, as the wages in Idaho are some of the lowest in the nation.
We (sister and I) were saying the same thing on my last visit to the pan handle this past summer. They're (sister and bro-in-law) are only up there via retirement. Their property value has increased almost 50% since they got there.
A good friend of ours lives in Boise. I was last there in 2001. She lives in the foothills on the way to Bogus Basin. Those too, I understand, have gone up like crazy. She said if she had to do it all over again, she'd be living in a place a fraction of the size she's in now.
It seems that no matter where you are (at least in the West), if you don't jump in on a house when the "gettin's good," you either a) can't afford it, or b) can't afford to move out of your existing house, and stay in the area.
Something is not right.