Not this again! Is real estate going to hold up.

It has always been said about investment in real estate that everybody has to live somewhere, hinting towards the stability of the real estate market. That usually works but with recent trends towards purchasing second homes for the sole purpose of investment could lead to a dangerous situation in the real estate market. Suddenly a necesity as a place to live has become comparable to a stock or bond. With that comes the same risk in stocks or bonds. This occurence is being compared to the burst of the technology bubble which dropped the economy into a deep slump over the past five years. Throughout the time of that slump, the real estate market seemed to be the only consistently positive market. Will the failure of this market in the near future damage the economy greatly, or has the economy improved enough that it will just result in a small short lasting dent? Many have been investing in real estate alone due to its comparable stability, so keep that in mind.