By John Ostapkovich

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A major real estate company survey finds people are getting more bullish on home ownership.

The recession, the financial meltdown, and a tidal wave of foreclosures all shook what seemed to be bedrock faith in home ownership, but the second annual Prudential Real Estate Outlook Survey finds 60 percent of respondents with a favorable view of the market, up six percent from last year.

(Earl Lee. Photo provided)

“Yes, it is still very much a part of the American dream, owning a home,” says Earl Lee (right), president of Prudential Real Estate. “They also said that, based on the interest rates, now is the time to buy.”

Lee says the survey interviews individuals between the ages of 25 and 60 with income levels of greater than $50,000 who were contemplating buying a home or who had recently bought a home.

He says people have been getting homes in regular sales and foreclosures for less than what it costs to replace them, because house-building resources — from lumber to copper — are under international price pressure.

And Lee says the renewed zeal for home ownership should be a wake-up call to builders to begin the long process that leads to new developments, and the economic boost that entails.

We’re not just “at dawn” in terms of people’s interest, he says, but at “9 AM.”

Read the KYW Regional Affairs Council series, “Buying Your First Home”