Most Say It's a Good Time To Buy a Home

Washington, DC, April 11, 2012 -- Most Americans last month thought it was a good time to buy a home last, according to a monthly survey by mortgage finance company Fannie Mae.

Conditions are coming together to encourage people to want to buy homes, noted Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae chief economist.

Consumers in the survey said that rental and purchase prices will rise over the next year and noted that their financial situations had stabilized.

The portion of Americans who indicated that it is a good time to buy in March--73%--was up 3 percentage points.

The percentage of those who said it is a good time to sell was up by 1 percentage point at 14%.

Nearly half of respondents, 49%, expected rental prices to increase, the highest number since Fannie Mae began tracking in June 2010.