All-Cash Deals Are Back: Has Housing Hit Bottom?

Could the "animal spirits" be coming back to the real estate market, or are we just getting blinded by the all-cash deals? It appears that one way to gauge the "bottom" of the real estate market to is tally up how many buyers are paying hard, cold cash for their transactions. And lately, those buyers are coming out of the woodwork in some of the hardest-hit markets.

Consider these stats: Cash buyers represented more than half -- 50 percent -- of all transactions in the troubled Miami-Fort Lauderdale area last year, this according to Zillow.com. Looking back at 2006, cash was king on only 13 percent of deals. That cash was enough infusion to make Miami home prices actually rise 15 percent in 2010 from a year earlier, according to the Miami Downtown Development Authority.