The homes I looked at in spring 2000 were in the mid 300’s, and had been in the high 200’s the year before. By 2004, they were in the high 700s to low 800s. That is a tripling, is it not?

PS, your math is off. Let’s assume $280k for your high 200’s and $820k for your low 800’s.

820-280=540

540/280=193%

A tripling in price is a 200% gain.

You need a quadrupling for a 300% gain.