Cash buyers threaten real estate market

At an economic summit hosted this week by the Naples Area Board of Realtors, John Tucillo sounded as upbeat as any of the 450 Realtors in the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria hotel.

After all, home sales and prices are rising, employment is growing, housing demand is increasing, inventory is shrinking and the foreclosure crisis is waning. “Everything that is supposed to be going up is going up and everything that's supposed to be going down is going down,” says Tucillo, the chief economist of the Florida Realtors.

So what worries Tucillo about this rosy scenario? Cash buyers.