While consumer sentiment indicates a more positive outlook when it comes to the course of housing prices in 2012, there's still a lot of work to be done in the housing market. According to a DSNews article published today, Fannie Mae says we're only halfway through a "10-year adjustment process," during which the market is still reacting and adjusting to constantly changing policy. Fannie Mae foresees regulatory changes taking another couple of years, after which the mortgage market will take some more time to adjust. Because policy directly affects the mortgage market, investors won't enter the market until policy is more stable.

And despite the report by Fannie May that consumer outlook is more positive with housing prices, economic recovery has yet to provide any actual benefits - most Americans don't actually expect their personal financial situations to improve in the next year.

On the positive side of things, after those five years Fannie Mae expects the housing market to be solid, and the trend of homeownership will remain strong.