Ideally, housing should rise near inflation. You most certainly don't want it to go down significantly, or there will be knock-on effects in the larger economy.

To buy a house, you put money down and sign a mortgage. Over 30 years, you use that mortgage to build equity. If prices crash, new homebuyers potentially get wiped out or even end up "upside down," where they can't sell because they owe more money than their house is now worth. This was a prime contributor to the Great Recession.