Probably the headline take-away from Fannie Mae's June National Housing Survey was the more upbeat attitude of potential home sellers toward the housing market.  The survey found the number of respondents who think this is a good time to sell a home at a survey high of 52 percent, up three percentage points from May, and the first time in the survey's history it has passed 50 percent.  Fannie Mae's analysts said that continued strong job and income growth and a more favorable outlook on the selling climate might portend an uptick in the current housing supply. At the same time however those respondents who feel it is a good time to buy a house fell to 63 percent tying the all-time survey low.

Another sizeable jump was in the number of respondents who expect rents will go up over the next 12 months which also hit a survey high at 59 percent, up four points from the previous month.  The average expectation for an increase was 4.2 percent, down slightly from April.  Fannie Mae said an increase in housing supply from those ready to sell, combined with higher rental cost expectations might propel more potential homebuyers off of the sidelines.

Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae said, "Our June survey results show the positive impact on housing of job and income growth.  The expectation of higher rents is a natural outgrowth of increasing household formation by newly employed individuals putting upward pressure on rental rates. A complementary rise in the good time to sell measure suggests that limited inventory, which is putting upward pressure on house prices, gives an increasing advantage to sellers. Together, these results point to a healthier home purchase market, with more renters likely to find owning to be more cost-effective than renting and more sellers likely to put their homes on the market."

Fewer respondents expect home prices to continue their rapid rise.  Forty-seven percent say prices will increase over the next 12 months, down from 49 percent, while the average increase expected eased back from 2.8 to 2.6 percent.  Half of respondents expect mortgage rates to rise compared to 47 percent in the May survey.

Those who said they planned to buy the next home they live in fell 2 percentage points to 64 percent.  Those who say they will rent increased from 27 to 30 percent.

Attitudes about the overall economy continued to improve.  The share of respondents who say the economy is on the right track increased by 1 percentage point to 39 percent, while those who say the economy is on the wrong track fell from 52 to 51 percent. 

The percentage of respondents who expect their personal financial situation to get worse over the next 12 months fell back to 10 percent - tying a survey low.  There were only minimal changes to the number of respondents who reported improvement or deterioration in household income or expenses over the last year. 

Fannie Mae has conducted the National Housing Survey monthly since June 2010.  It polls 1,000 Americans, both homeowners and renters, by phone, asking each over 100 questions to assess their attitudes toward owning and renting a home, home and rental price changes, homeownership distress, the economy, household finances, and overall consumer confidence.