The #'s jump around a lot -- I know Vegas was #1 for over a year at one point. Only data I could find online was kinda old though, from 2007:

10 Fastest Growing U.S. Cities | RealEstateRama

The 10 biggest gainers:
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas: 162,250
[COLOR=blue! important][COLOR=blue! important]Atlanta[/COLOR][/COLOR]-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga.: 151,063
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.: 132,513
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas: 120,544
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.: 86,660
Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, N.C.-S.C.: 66,724
Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wis.: 66,231
Austin-Round Rock, Texas: 65,880
[COLOR=blue! important][COLOR=blue! important]Las [COLOR=blue! important]Vegas[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]-Paradise, Nev.: 59,165
San Antonio, Texas: 53,925
The 10 fast-growing metro areas
Palm Coast, Fla.: 7.2 percent
St. George, Utah: 5.1 percent
Raleigh-Cary, N.C.: 4.7 percent
[COLOR=blue! important][COLOR=blue! important]Gainesville[/COLOR][/COLOR], Ga.: 4.5 percent
Austin-Round Rock, Texas: 4.3 percent
[COLOR=blue! important][COLOR=blue! important]Myrtle [COLOR=blue! important]Beach[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]-Conway-N.C.-Myrtle Beach, S.C.: 4.2 percent
Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, N.C.-S.C.: 4.2 percent
New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, La.: 4 percent
Grand Junction, Colo.: 3.7 percent
Clarksville, Tenn.-Ky.: 3.7 percent

Like you said though -- sometimes a booming population doesn't translate to higher housing prices. My guess would be that if an area is way overbuilt like Vegas or Phoenix, you'd see this trend like you are describing.

- Hakrjak