Majority of consumers feel housing market poised for comeback

Despite lower home prices and tighter lending standards, a Prudential poll finds that a vast majority of Americans believe the market will recover soon, The Wall Street Journal reported.

In the poll, 68 percent of potential buyers and sellers believe the market and housing prices will recover within the next two years. Perhaps even more surprisingly, 86 percent of respondents said real estate is a good investment.

Still, economists are skeptical that prices are heading up anytime soon.

“The probability of them being higher in two years than they are today? I’d say pretty close to zero,” said Dean Baker, co-director of the left-leaning think tank Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He expects prices to fall this year a total of 10 percent and level off next year.