Poll: Americans see favorable homebuying climate despite struggles

Despite worries about their own monthly mortgage payments, a new survey finds that most consumers feel that the time is right for families interested in moving into a new home.

According to a poll from the Washington Post, 61 percent of Americans feel that housing conditions, such as low home prices and interest rates, mean that it's currently a good time for relocation into a new home, while just 29 percent felt that it was a bad time. The remaining 10 percent had no opinion.

But at the same time, most consumers also expressed worry over being able to make their own monthly mortgage payments, with 53 percent of respondents saying that they were at least "somewhat concerned." Analysts said that result was the result of persisting poor employment conditions.

"The unemployment rate is still very, very high, so if you think of it as being about the odds of someone losing their job and not being able to find another, there's good reason to be concerned about being able to make mortgage payments," Karen Dynan, a Brookings Institution scholar, told the paper.

That worry also showed in a recent study of consumer attitudes. Earlier this month, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment dropped to 67.9 in October, the lowest rating since July.