Things are looking up for the Americans sampled in Fannie Mae's latest National Housing Survey.

Expectations for both homeowners and consumers rose in promising ways in December in the latest Fannie Mae National Housing Survey.

According to a press release from the GSE, the percentage of Americans who said the economy was on the right track rose by 6 percentage points, and home values are now expected to increase by 0.8 percent in 2012, up from just 0.2 percent in November.

Also, more survey respondents said they expect their financial situation to improve in 2012 than stay the same, the first time that has occurred since Feb. 2011, and the number of respondents who said their income was significantly higher than a year ago rose by 5 percent from November.

Doug Duncan, the vice president and chief economist of Fannie Mae, said the December survey results showed a definite improvement from the mid-2011 lulls that spooked analysts.

“December attitudes have rebounded from the lows seen during the debt ceiling debate and economic deterioration of Europe this past summer,” Duncan said. “There is marked improvement in consumer sentiment regarding the direction of the economy, personal finances, and future home price expectations.”

Other notable results from the survey included:

• Twenty-six percent of respondents expect home prices to increase over the next 12 months, an increase of 4 percentage points from November.
• Seventy-one percent of respondents said it is a good time to buy a home. a 3 percent increase.
• Americans expect home rental prices to increase by 3.5 percent over the next 12 months, up from 3.2 percent in November.
• Thirty-one percent of Americans said they would rent their next home, while 64 percent said they would buy, up 1 percent from last month.