Land Values

[vishalogy]

Last year, land values in most parts of the pinelands rose almost so fast, and in some parts even faster what they did outside the pinelands.

A) so fast, and in some parts even faster what they did
B) so fast, and in some parts even faster than, those
C) as fast, and in some parts even faster than, those
D) as fast as, and in some parts even faster than, those
E) as fast as, and in some parts even faster than what they did

[tom4lax]

IMO answer is D.

Need construction of "as fast as", so eliminate A,B,C.

Between D & E, for D, "those" takes the place of land values, resulting in the correct construction.

[pandeyvineet24]

Should be D

[gmatv09]

IMO D

[real2008]

it is D

[mehravikas]

IMO - D

[vishalogy]

Yes the OA is D.

I posted this question because i was terribly confused between D and E.
I figured out that "they/those" refers to "land values" but I felt the parallelism should be with "rose" and not "land values" and hence chose E.

I still am not clear on two things
1)Is the parallelism -
a)land values in pinelands rose as fast as land values outside pinelands or
b) land values in pinelands rose as fast as land values outside pinelands did

2) Shouldn't "as" be used to compare actions??? I understand that "as fast as" is not the same as "as".

Somebody please clarify!!!