Last week, I heard someone complain that the housing market was “bad.” Well, when housing appreciated 10-20% per year, I heard other people complain that the market was “ridiculous.” The truth is that the housing market has never been healthier. Now that the recession has washed away a lot of the speculative excess, housing is affordable again IF you have cash. The problem plaguing the housing market isn’t so much a crisis of confidence on the part of buyers, but the locked up credit market with wide spreads for jumbo and investment property mortgages. Once those spreads narrow, you’ll really see the pace of real estate investment accelerate.