Poll: Most Say It's Good Buyer's Market

Now is a good time to buy, say 59 percent of those surveyed in an Associated Press-AOL Money & Finance poll.

But long-term confidence in the housing market doesn't keep some home owners from having concerns about the current situation.

• 67 percent think it is harder for first-time home buyers than it was five years ago.
• 60 percent say they will delay buying a home for two years.
• 11 percent are certain or very likely to buy soon.
• 40 percent believe housing prices will rise soon
• 35 percent think the prices of homes in their neighborhood are about right
• 50 percent of home owners in the Northeast say houses are still overpriced,
• 10 percent of those in the Midwest think homes are underpriced.

Gus Faucher, director of macroeconomics for Moody's Economy.com, a consulting firm, said his company believes home sales are at or near bottom, but home values will continue to fall until early next year.

Even so, he said, many people bought their homes before the run-up in values that started around 2001, so they're still in good shape. Unless the home owner must sell now or can't afford the payments, the current downturn "doesn't have that much of an impact," he said.

Source: The Associated Press, Alan Fram (04/14/2008)