With recent reports of foreclosure fraud and predictions of home prices and sales going down, it is enough to make one fearful for the housing market and the economy in general. However, some news can be exaggerated and thus instill unnecessary fear in people’s minds. The facts show, however, that there really is not much to fear as the housing market does seem to finally be picking up.

The National Association of Realtors released in a New Orleans conference the results of a survey done on people who purchased a house from summer 2009 to middle of 2010. The survey, which only included those who intended to stay in their homes and not investors, yielded pretty positive results.

Though home buyers prove to be more conservative in their choices and even opt to stay in their homes longer, most American consumers still consider a home purchase as a smart financial move. Half of those surveyed even admit that purchasing a home just might be better than investing in stocks. But they are, admittedly, more cautious as median price remains low as well as median home size purchased.

NAR research vice president Paul Bishop explains, “Not surprising, the median price is down a little bit and so is the median size of homes purchased. Eighty-five percent of homeowners say their purchase of a home is still a good finance investment, and nearly half think the investment is better than stocks.”

The market does appear to be stabilizing but it still remains slow-paced as more and more buyers are planning to stay put in their homes longer. Home tenure have been increasing in the past years and sits at one decade for first-time owners. The expected tenure is longer for repeat homebuyers, who say they aim at staying in their homes for 15 years.

Those saying that low home prices and interest rates are not doing anything to help the housing market just may be wrong – as proven in the NAR survey. Around 30% of those surveyed said they recently bought a house because the timing was right. Even the number of first-time home buyers has shot up: from 2006’s 36%, they now total 505 of all purchases.

People, though, are applying more caution in purchasing a house as home buyers take longer before closing in on a deal. Whereas in 2001, it only takes an average of seven weeks before closing a deal, it now takes a dozen weeks on average. Even sellers have to do more to close a deal – more than 50% of those surveyed say they had to cut the price and even 33% had to do so twice or more.

There might have been changes in trending and pricing when it comes to the housing market. The good news is that it seems to be on its way up.