South Dakotans are working longer hours, taking money out of savings to make ends meet and putting off buying big ticket items. But people in the state are still optimistic about the housing market and the future of the economy.
While the housing bubble burst nationwide the economy went tumbling down along with it. But here in South Dakota we've never seen such dramatic problems on the housing front. In fact, home prices are down only by about five percent.

According to Citibank's economic survey, one in five South Dakotans who took part think their home values will go up in the next year. Sixty-two percent think they'll stay the same.

And a majority are pretty optimistic they'll still be able to make money on their house if they decided to sell it. 59 percent think they'll sell their home for more than what they paid for it. And if they purchased their home before 2007, during the years where prices continued to rise, they probably could profit from the sale.

While there's no doubt people are watching their spending during the recession, most have a positive outlook for the future. Fifty-eight percent expect business conditions to improve in the next year.

"South Dakotans as a whole are optimistic. If we're not at the bottom of this recession, we are real close to coming out of it and we're more optimistic than the nation as a whole," Jerry Nachtigal of Citibank South Dakota said.

And there's evidence that people in the state know they have it better than the rest of the country. Fifty-three percent say the current economic conditions are fair or poor in South Dakota, but 78 percent of people in a national survey think their area is fair or poor.

Half of those surveyed however still think we have a way to go before the recession hits bottom.