Confidence Returns to Housing Buy Now

The housing numbers are all heading in the right direction. Home prices up, foreclosures down and, perhaps the most important, consumer confidence in housing swelling. Even as sales of new and existing homes bounce up and down month to month, the desire to buy is growing.

The percentage of Americans who say owning a home is an essential part of the American dream has hit a 3-year high at 79 percent, and the percentage who say it is better to own than rent grew by four points to 69 percent, according to the CNBC All-America Economic Survey. Perhaps the biggest surprise in the survey is that despite a raging, record-high stock market, more Americans believe a home is a better long-term investment than stocks.