Water Cooler: Direction of the housing market

Panelists answered the following: Do you feel positive about the direction of the national housing market?
Jim West: “Yes. The housing market is a mainstay of our national economy; it needs to be nurtured not exploited.  ‘Sustainable’ not ‘bubble’ should be the watchword for housing.”
Mary Zanger: “No. The war machine has to stop. Investment into this country has to start to provide jobs in infrastructure, wind, and solar power and rebuild the grid, water and sewer lines, education, health, highways, and bridges. Good jobs provide resources for people to buy homes.”
Richard Place: “If you own a house you have to feel positive about the trend. One of the reasons you buy a house is to make money off the investment. It’s a no-brainer.”
Marty Richman: “No, I believe that many local and regional bubbles still exist. California housing costs, in general, are way out of line with income. The state has a financial interest in inflated housing prices – that is why they did nothing about the last bubble until it burst.”
Nants Foley: “I can’t speak for the national market, but our market is doing well. Homes are selling quickly, and there is a slight upward price trend.”
Ruth Erickson “Although home sales are down more in the Northeast and South, but not so much in the Midwest and West, locally we see small and large developments breaking ground or already selling new homes. It is difficult to feel positive about the direction of the national housing market, when one-third of Americans have been reported to be in debt, so that many cannot afford to purchase a home, new or not!”