Boston-area executives who attended the Sovereign Bank/Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Economic Outlook Breakfast Thursday morning believe the local and national economies will be "somewhat better" in the coming year.

The about 500 in attendance took part in a real-time survey that provided instant results for 12 questions on everything from the general state of the economy to the specific hiring plans of individual companies.

Larry Delp, Sovereign’s marketing director for corporate banking middle markets, moderated the survey and noted that the results were "much more optimistic" than they were a year ago.

This is the 12th year Sovereign and the chamber of conducted the snapshot outlook.

A full 66 percent of respondents said they thought the national economy would be in "somewhat better shape" over the next 12 months. The same proportion said the Greater Boston economy would likewise improve; 15 percent said Greater Boston’s economy would be in "much better shape" over the next year.

Opinions moderated when respondents were asked to gauge conditions for "only your business."

In that case, 21 percent said they expect to be in "much better shape," while 45 percent said they expect to be in "somewhat better shape" and 28 percent expect no change at all from current conditions.

But considering that current conditions are better than those of a year ago, that itself may be cause for optimism, said Steven Andrews, Sovereign’s senior vice president of global banking and markets.

"We’re not too far away from being back on track," Andrews said. "As the consumer goes, so go us. It’s been sticky, but we’re starting to see some improvement. I feel like we’re stabilizing, but still vulnerable…"

Asked what the most significant challenges to the economy, the region and to their individual businesses are, attendees consistently said health care costs, which were even named as a top reason why businesses plan not to hire in the coming year.

Edvaldo Morata, Sovereign’s head of corporate banking, said the survey results represent "a big improvement from last year. What was shown here, was that, in fact, the sentiment is ahead of what the figures are showing. This is feet on the ground. For us, we are doing well, our clients are doing better. We’ve also seen more (business clients) more interested in going out of the region, be it nationally, or internationally."