Does easy credit in a region cause property to be more expensive?
Theoretically, multiperiod borrow and lend models I am familiar with suggest that an increase in ease of credit (increasing the credit supply) should increase demand. This in turn raises the price of housing. So I believe your intuition here is correct.

Empirically, I am only familiar with one paper analyzing this relationship, which finds the same thing. 


  ...because of geographic diversification, treated banks expand credit: Housing demand increases, house prices rise, but to a lesser extent in areas with elastic housing supply, where the housing stock increases instead.


Credit Supply and the Price of Housing

Favara and Imbs (2014)

http://www.jeanimbs.com/papers2_files/Favara_Imbs_May2014.pdf