Survey: Nearly 1/2 Expect Housing Prices to Rise

Nearly half of Americans believe housing prices in their regions will rise over the next two years, according to a national AP/AOL Real Estate poll.The survey, described as a "snapshot of future homebuyers' perceptions of the residential real estate market," also found that 50% of Americans think that housing in their area is not overpriced, but that 53% of suburbanites see prices as inflated, compared with 39% of city dwellers. "Considering recent reports about housing prices going down, I was amazed to discover that so many Americans believe that prices will increase over the next two years," said Samara Jaffe, head of AOL Real Estate. "These survey results really point to how divided homebuyers are about the state of the marketplace -- and housing costs are influenced by perception of value, in addition to other economic factors." AOL Real Estate can be found online at http://www.aol.com/realestate, and the Associated Press can be found at http://www.ap.org.