Survey: Home prices will hold steady in 2011

According to the latest survey conducted by Fannie Mae, despite having misgivings about the state of the economy, more people are confident about home values staying put or increasing this year.

The survey found that 78 percent believe home prices will either hold steady or increase in the next 12 months, which is a 5 percentage point increase from the 73 percent who thought the same thing in 2010. But almost two-thirds of respondents didn't feel the same way about the economy, as 61 percent said they thought the economy was heading in the wrong direction.

"Over the course of the last year, we gained deeper insights into Americans' confidence in the strength of the housing market and the economic recovery" said Doug Duncan vice president and chief economist for Fannie Mae. "More Americans believe that housing prices will remain stable over the next year … [b]ut most respondents to our survey continue to lack confidence in the strength of the economic recovery."

Duncan went on to say that this uncertainty will likely affect the vitality of the housing recovery.

The country will get a better idea of how the economy fared last month when the unemployment report is released Friday.